Reba Saldanha/Reuters
As he struggles to find traction in a Democratic primary for president that isn’t currently much of a contest, Rep. Dean Phillips is trying to turn the page on a story that has plagued him from the very first minutes his campaign officially existed.
On the day that Phillips announced for president, The Daily Beast reported that Phillips took a $2,800 donation in 2019 from conservative billionaire Harlan Crow—the very same billionaire whose financial gifts and ties to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas led to the court adopting its first ethics code two weeks ago.
As he signed paperwork to get himself on the New Hampshire primary ballot, Phillips denied soliciting the donation in an exchange with The Daily Beast. But that apparently hasn’t stopped the donation from becoming an issue. In an effort to put the story behind him, Phillips announced late Sunday night that he was donating $2,800 to a Minnesota charity.