Far-left presidential aspirant Cornel West has defended accepting campaign donations from Dallas-based real estate developer and frequent Republican funder Harlan Crow.
Crow, whose friendship with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been the subject of recent and ongoing controversy, gave Cornel West for President the maximum $3,300 individual donation on Aug. 7, according to Federal Election Commission records.
The money raised some eyebrows in liberal circles, as concerns have been raised by allies of President Biden that West could siphon votes from the incumbent in the general election.
“As an independent candidate and a free Black man, I accept donations within the limits of no PACs or corporate interest groups that have strings attached,” West wrote defiantly on X.
“I am unbought and unbossed.”
Crow’s donation to West came while he was still running under the Green Party banner. West switched to run as an independent earlier this month.
Crow told the Wall Street Journal in April that he considered West, a professor at Union Theological Seminary and a longtime progressive activist, a “good friend.”
“Despite my deep political differences with brother Harlan Crow (who is an anti-Trump Republican), I’ve known him in a non-political setting for some years and I pray for his precious family,” West wrote on X Thursday.
Social media commentators ripped West for taking Crow’s money, with one calling him a “rat—-er & Russian asset.”
“Republican megadonor Harlan Crow bankrolling the presidential campaign of Cornel West should surprise no one. There’s a reason Obama never invited West to the White House. West has always been a monumental FRAUD and GRIFTER,” musician Bill Madden said.
West fired back at the criticism, calling it “hypocritical.”
“I find it hypocritical for those who highlight his $3300 donation to my campaign but can’t say a mumbling word about the PAC-driven billion dollars to support the genocidal attack in Gaza sponsored by their candidate,” he said.
Crow was thrust into the spotlight earlier this year following a series of reports by ProPublica detailing luxury trips and other benefits he gave Thomas, the most senior member of the high court.
The revelations have trigged calls by Democrats for tighter ethics rules for the Supreme Court, though there is no evidence of any wrongdoing by Thomas.
In addition to West, environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is running for president as an independent after dropping out of the Democratic primary.
President Biden and former President Donald Trump are currently favored to face off next year in a rematch of the 2020 presidential campaign.