Donald Trump’s recent claim that McDonald’s officially denied Vice President Kamala Harris’ statement about working at the fast-food chain during her college years has been debunked. In a clarification issued Monday, the popular fast-food giant denied ever making such a statement.
According to The Washington Post, McDonald’s responded to the allegations following Trump’s comments on his TruthSocial platform. Trump had accused Harris of fabricating her story about working at McDonald’s one summer between her freshman and sophomore years at Howard University. Despite the claim being based on an anecdotal comment made by Harris, Trump seized the opportunity to challenge her credibility, repeatedly asserting that her account was untrue.
Over the weekend, Trump used a McDonald’s location in Pennsylvania for a photo opportunity, closing it down temporarily to don an apron and serve French fries to his supporters. During this event, he reignited the accusation against Harris, asserting, “We have checked with McDonald’s, and they say, definitively, that there is no record of Lyin’ Kamala Harris ever having worked there.” Trump further declared, “She never worked there, and has lied about this ‘job’ for years.”
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However, Philip Bump from The Washington Post quickly pointed out the flawed logic behind Trump’s claims. Bump emphasized that the lack of documentation from over 40 years ago hardly serves as concrete evidence that Harris never worked at McDonald’s. Drawing a parallel, Bump stated, “If America’s collective memory and documentation of its history suddenly evaporated, we could prove that Trump was never president, since no record of his having done so exists.”
McDonald’s itself issued a neutral statement to distance the brand from political controversy, affirming that they do not maintain employment records for all positions dating back to the early 1980s. The statement highlighted the powerful statistic that “1 in 8” Americans have worked for McDonald’s at some point in their lives, acknowledging the shared experience many have with the company.
“While we and our franchisees don’t have records for all positions dating back to the early ’80s, we’ve been proud to hear both former President Trump’s love for McDonald’s and Vice President Harris’s fond memories working under the Arches,” McDonald’s said.
