The presidential candidate has repeatedly claimed the alleged work experience in an attempt to connect with low-wage workers.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has repeatedly claimed that she worked at McDonald's while getting her undergraduate degree in the 1980s. This claim has been reported by multiple reputable news outlets, but aside from Harris' own testimony, there is no independent evidence such as a photo, employment record, or confirmation from a friend or family member to verify the story. Harris has invoked the alleged McDonald's work experience throughout her political career, including in a 2024 presidential campaign ad and during a 2024 appearance on "The Drew Barrymore Show." Other prominent Democrats, such as former President Bill Clinton, have also repeated the anecdote. However, some internet users have challenged the claim, with unverified reports that "McDonald's Corporate sources" have no record of Harris working at their locations. Snopes reached out to Harris' campaign and McDonald's headquarters seeking evidence to corroborate the claim, but as of the report's publication, no such proof has been uncovered. Without tangible evidence to independently confirm or debunk the story, Snopes has rated the claim "Research In Progress" as they continue to investigate.
When someone tells me they worked a specific job in college, I have never once doubted the truth of that statement. Why would anyone have reason to lie about such a thing? If it was a complete lie, you'd constantly be at risk of being exposed by a close friend who knew the truth, which is WAY WORSE for a presidential candidate. To even explore this as Snopes is pro-Trump.
Is she planning to deploy the military against protestors and have them seize the voting machines? Or destroy the departments of Education and Labor? No? Okay, cool, she’s got my vote. Now let’s move on to talking about either (a) how to make sure she wins, or (b) how we can get better behavior out of the Democrats on Gaza and climate policy.
Get this Fox News horseshit out of here, pls and thank you
Can they actually prove anyone worked at McDonalds that long ago? Aside from saving a pay stub for 40 years I don't see how one could prove or disprove such a thing, I doubt the company keeps records of every employee that far back.
Assuming that franchise is still even open. How long does the US gov hold onto tax returns? The IRS says there's usually no need to keep them after 6 years. The best evidence they could find would probably be a coworker that corroborates the story or a photograph of Harris behind the counter working. The photo seems unlikely, and how many coworkers from 30 years ago do you remember?
I can't think of any way how I could proof the first job I had during school in the late 90's.
I was working in a restaurant kitchen, peeling potatoes and stuff. You don't take photos there or keep name tags or other keepsakes. It was a shitty job, you want to forget about it, as soon as you left the premises.
Kamala Harris' job is even longer ago. 40 years is a long time to keep paystubs or something. There were no camera phones back then, no digital footprint you could recreate. That she can't produce any proof, doesn't proof anything.
90s is nothing, a normal person could get it in a month, one of her aids could probably get it in an hour.
Does it matter tho?
Eh, it would be fucked up if she just flat out lied, but it's hard to imagine she would lie about that.
If she proves it tho, they'll make a new stupid claim and if she doesn't prove it they'll use this as evidence that she would prove it if it wasn't true.
Social security records. 90s is nothing, a normal person could get it in a month
I tried this and it takes ages. I applied back on July 1st and haven't heard a peep yet - apparently this can take many months or sometimes even years.
Unlike Trump who totally didn't tell Isreal to "finish up" and to get it over with "fast" because they were "losing the PR war" and then, when Biden didn't supply weapons to Israel, claimed Biden "abandoned" them.
Neither of our primary parties are going to back down on Israeli support any time soon. While I don't approve of what's happening. It's foolish to think that this is a dividing factor in this election. It's not.
This is just sad. Whether she lied about McDonald's or not has no bearing at all on who I will vote for in the coming election. In the grand scheme of things this is meaningless. In fact if this is literally all that can be dug up about Harris it kind of speaks highly of her.
At the end of the day we all lose cause essentially elections are coming down to whoever is the lesser of two evils and not someone you stand behind.
I worked for Burger King in the 80's and you'd never be able to prove that, either. I worked much longer for Sears in the 80's and I wouldn't be able to prove that, either. This is completely pointless.
I don't even know I'd be able to prove I served in the Army Reserve for six years if it weren't for my DD214.
They need to find someone who actually ate one of Harris’s alleged burgers and can testify that it was at least as good as the ones Trump served in the White House—otherwise why should anyone vote for her?
I’m pretty sure this can be verified with SS records so maybe wait and see? Lying is bad of course, but when she is running against the liar in chief it hardy seems significant. For a country that desperately needs to avoid Trump 2.0, this seems like more of a distraction.
I’m pretty sure this can be verified with SS records so maybe wait and see?
Eventually, yes, just that the SS is both a dinosaur and a sloth so expect it to take forever - I've personally tried this.
Lying is bad of course, but when she is running against the liar in chief it hardy seems significant. For a country that desperately needs to avoid Trump 2.0, this seems like more of a distraction.
Agreed. Even if she flubbed and made a mistake/misremembered (like say she took on a friend's shifts or something without actually being employed there, or she somehow misremembered the restaurant) that's hardly a reason for a no vote. I mean, c'mon, really!
what matters is Harris said it to show solidarity to the workers in the US to garner their votes
no matter what party the candidate is from if they are willing to lie to the voters what else would they lie about
Walz overfunding police so they would manhandle protesters that are against an oil pipeline but coming out as an environmentalist is the same thing too
matters who we put in office, and they should be held to a high standard
If you want to call her a liar, you can drop actual evidence or shut up.
Federal regs require employers to hold employment info for three years. My corp will literally shred and burn everything past that once a month because we don’t want the liability of that shit getting out.
We’re talking something 40 years ago, and most her friends then are probably gone and hazy. McDonald’s probably doesn’t have anything either.
There’s probably no photos, especially since that was well before digital cameras being a thing. You think some rando franchise owner is going to keep photos of some rando college kid cuz they might be president some day?
It’s not surprising there’s “no evidence”. What’s surprising is that you’re making an issue of it… without evidence.
so only Republicans need to be held to a standard but not Democrats because of Trump?
not to mention Walz got the police extra funding to put the boot to protesters and under federal approval under then President Trump in a bipartisan effort
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has not taken a firm stance on the pipeline expansion, which received federal approval under the Trump administration.[18][23]