A New York Times report on Sunday that equated skepticism about Vice President Kamala Harris’s claim to have worked at McDonald’s with birtherism was based in large part on a source—a friend of Harris’s—who said that Harris’s late mother told her about the job.
"Donald Trump has claimed without evidence that Ms. Harris never worked at the fast-food chain," the paper said. "Her campaign and a friend say she did."
Meet Wanda Kagan, Harris’s high school classmate and longtime girlfriend, whom the Times described as "a close friend of Ms. Harris’s when they attended high school together in Montreal." Kagan, per the Times, "said that Ms. Harris’s mother, who died in 2009, had told Ms. Kagan about the summer job years ago."
What the Times did not tell its readers is that Kagan is a full-throated Harris supporter who has appeared alongside the vice president at several campaign events. She also served as a surrogate for her old friend on television during the Democratic National Convention.
"It’s an emotional and chilling ride, and I’m just overwhelmed with happiness for my friend, and I’m happy to be alive to be able to witness her now fighting for the people of America," Kagan told MSNBC during the Democratic convention in August.
Kagan is the first living person to step forward in the seven weeks since a Free Beacon investigation first raised doubts about Harris's claim to say that Harris worked at McDonald's. Kagan's claim, that she heard about McDonald's from Harris's mother, cannot be verified because Harris's mother is dead. To date, the Harris campaign itself has not produced a single person with firsthand knowledge of Harris's McDonald's job, other than Harris herself.
Kagan was not in touch with Harris when she allegedly worked at McDonald’s but told PBS News that she had stayed in touch with Harris's mother during that time.
"I lost touch after she went to college, and then I went to college. But then I stayed in touch with her mom still, and—but then I still had a pretty unstable life again, so I was moving a lot, and so I lost her mom’s contact number," Kagan said.
Kagan’s personal story has become a part of Harris’s campaign. When Kagan confided in Harris that her stepfather was physically and sexually abusing her, both women have said Harris pressed her to move in with her own family, a fact she has spoken about on the campaign trail and from the dais at the Democratic National Convention.
"This is one of the reasons I became a prosecutor—to protect people like Wanda—because I believe everyone has a right to safety, to dignity, and to justice," Harris said.
The Washington Free Beacon raised questions about Harris’s claim to have worked a summer job at McDonald’s after the Harris campaign and a super PAC supporting her candidacy offered shifting narratives about the job. First, they claimed she held the job to pay her way through college at Howard University by working at McDonald’s. Then, they said Harris worked there in the summer of 1983, after her freshman year of college, for extra spending money.
The Times did not indicate that the campaign’s account of the job had changed, but it did note that the Harris campaign "did not make any of Ms. Harris’s friends or family members available for interviews about their recollections of her experience there."
On Monday evening, Kagan co-hosted a campaign event for Harris called "Survivors for Kamala Harris." Kagan has been regularly socializing or campaigning with Harris since April, a review of her social media accounts shows.
In fact, the evening before the Times published its report, Kagan was at the White House to celebrate Harris’s birthday. She posted a video of Stevie Wonder performing at the event with the caption, "Friends together for her birthday."
On Oct. 11, Kagan posted a video of her clinking a glass of champagne with Harris at what appears to be a campaign event.
"Blessed to be on the stage with @vp, and the first one she toasts," the caption reads. "Cheers to [sic] bright future with @kamalaharris as president!"
"This was a thoroughly reported and edited piece of independent journalism," Times spokesman Charlie Stadtlander told the Free Beacon. "The Times stands behind it completely."
Kagan did not respond to a request for comment.