Convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein donated more money to former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton than any other Democratic candidate, despite Clinton’s claim that he contributed to ‘every Democrat’.
Donations from the disgraced movie mogul included $1.4 million bundled toward her failed presidential bid in 2016 and another $73,390 in 1999 when she ran for her New York Senate seat.
Weinstein was found guilty of third-degree rape and a first-degree criminal sexual act on Monday. He now faces up to 29 years behind bars.
Federal Election Commission filings show that he formerly donated large funds not just to Clinton but to former President Barack Obama, John Kerry and Al Gore during their presidential bids.
In total, he donated $2.3 million to the party and its candidates.
Hillary Clinton with Harvey Weinstein in 2004. They were friends and he raised money for a number of Democrats including Clinton, her husband Bill, President Obama and Al Gore
Harvey Weinstein, center left, bundled half as much to President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign as he did to Clinton in 2016. Also pictured are Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York.
Harvey Weinstein, left, also contributed to Al Gore, right, on his failed presidential bid
Clinton justified receiving campaign donations from Weinstein by saying he donated to ‘everybody’s campaign’.
She and her husband Bill had been friends with the producer for years.
On Tuesday, she said of that: ‘Well, it’s true. He contributed to every Democrat’s campaign.
‘He contributed to Barack Obama’s campaign and John Kerry’s campaign and Al Gore’s campaign and everybody’s campaign.
‘I don’t know whether that should chill anyone else from contributing to political campaigns, but it certainly should end the kind of behavior that he was just convicted for.’
She previously insisted she knew nothing of his predatory behavior.
‘How could we have known? He raised money for me, for the Obamas, for Democrats in general.
‘And that at the time was something that everybody thought made sense.
‘And of course, if all of us had known what we know now, it would have affected our behavior,’ she said.
According to Federal Election Commission filings, the money Clinton received far outweighed the amounts donated by Weinstein to any of the other candidates she mentioned.
The Miramax founder had personally raised $72,100 for Obama, but bundled only a further $679,000 to his 2012 reelection campaign, half of the $1.4 million figure he bundled to Clinton.
According to Center for Responsive Politics, bundling is the act in which ‘people with friends in high places who, after bumping against personal contribution limits, turn to those friends, associates, and, well, anyone who’s willing to give, and deliver the checks to the candidate’.
Even the $73,390 Weinstein donated to Clinton’s 1999 Senate run far exceeds the figure pumped into the Senate campaigns of other Democratic candidates.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who replaced Clinton as junior senator in New York, received only $11,500.
Others guilty of accepting money from the convicted rapist include New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, who received $17,800, and New York Senator Chuck Schumer, who received $14,200.
He also donated $5,400 to Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and $5,600 to Patrick Leahy of Vermont.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Harvey Weinstein attend the TIME 100 Gala in 2014. The convicted rapist contributed $11,500 to the junior New York senator’s campaign
New York Senator Chuck Schumer, pictured left, who received $14,200 from disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein, pictured right, at a 2014 news conference in New York City
Senators Patrick Leahy and Richard Blumenthal also received donations from Weinstein
Filings show that the disgraced producer donated $2.3 million to Democratic candidates, including $305,149 received by the Democratic National Committee.
Weinstein was brought down first in 2017 by a series of explosive magazine articles. It triggered a wave of women coming forward and forced Hollywood players, many of whom had ignored his behavior for years, to confront his behavior.
The candidates he supported were also forced to look back at the donations he had made to their campaign, with many vowing to repay the contributions to women’s charities.
Speaking to Fox News, spokespeople for Schumer and Booker confirmed they had donated Weinstein’s contribution back to a women’s charity, as had Blumenthal and Leahy.
Gillibrand announced in 2017 that she was awarding her $11,500 Weinstein contribution to RAINN, the nation’s largest anti-sexual-violence group.
Also speaking in 2017, Clinton said it was impossible to give back all of Weinstein’s donation but would contribute $13,000 to a women’ organization.
A spokesperson for Cory Booker confirmed that his Weinstein contribution went to charity
Hillary made the comments on Tuesday while promoting her new Hulu documentary
Hillary was promoting her new Hulu documentary in Berlin on Tuesday when she was asked for her opinion on the verdict in Weinstein’s trial.
She said it ‘speaks for itself’ and that it was ‘time for an accounting’.
‘Well, I think that the jury’s verdict really speaks for itself.
‘And it is obviously something that people have looked at and followed because it was time for an accounting. And the jury clearly found that,’ she said.
Weinstein is now in the hospital, where he was taken with ‘chest pains and heart palpitations’ on Monday after the guilty verdict, before he could be taken to jail to await sentencing on March 11.
Clinton and Weinstein together in 2012, with his wife Georgina Chapman in the background. Clinton said on Tuesday that he donated to ‘everybody’s’ campaign
Harvey Weinstein arrives at the Manhattan Criminal Court, on February 24, 2020