Longtime friend of Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, Dana Walden knew her ties and past donations would prove to be poor optics before the 2024 presidential election, but ABC News parent Disney's legal department was fine with it, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
When Walden was promoted in 2022 to be in charge of Disney's entertainment, which includes ABC News, she disclosed the clear conflicts of interest to Disney's legal department.
Instead of changing her role, Walden merely stopped hosting Harris fundraisers like she had in 2022 and before, or donating to Democrats like she did in 2020 to the tune of hundreds of thousands, according to the Journal.
When Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump pointed out the conflict of interest that even Walden figured would be poor optics, Disney and ABC News was adamant Walden is not involved in ABC News decision-making or elections coverage.
But, as the Journal reported, she is merely involved in decision-making on the day-to-day decision-makers: She remains in the role overseeing ABC News and all its decision-making executives.
Trump has repeatedly called out the bias and one-sided moderators debating him on stage during the lone presidential debate on ABC news with Harris, who rejected Trump's myriad overtures for other debate hosts this summer.
Walden and her husband donated more than $20,000 to the Friends of Kamala Harris PAC in early 2020, more than $200,000 to the Biden Victory Fund in 2020, $20,000 to support Biden last November, and $250,000 to the Biden Victory Fund this April, the Journal reported, citing Federal Election Commission records.
In explaining away Walden's conflicts of interest, the Journal noted her defenders say other executives in news organizations make political donations, including Disney CEO Bob Iger used to mostly donate to Democrats like Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.
But Walden's ties to Harris run deeper than her pockets. Their husbands are longtime friends — and Harris even credits Walden for setting up their marriage, the Journal reported.
"Dana and I have been friends for decades," Harris told a Democratic National Committee fundraiser at their Brentwood, California, home.
"And that's all I will say," she added, laughing and joking Harris joked the Waldens were "responsible for my marriage."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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