Fact Check

McDonald's Sent Memo on Political Involvement After Trump Worked at Pennsylvania Store?

"We are not red or blue — we are golden," the internal document allegedly read.

Published Oct. 21, 2024

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Claim:
An image authentically showed a memo McDonald’s sent to employees about political involvement after former U.S. President Donald Trump held a campaign event at one of the fast-food chain's restaurants.

McDonald's has played a notable role in both 2024 U.S. presidential candidates' campaigns, with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris claiming to have worked at McDonald's in the 1980s (something for which we found no hard evidence) and former U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly claiming — also without evidence — that Harris was lying.

On Oct. 20, 2024, Trump made headlines when he donned an apron and took over the french fry station of a Pennsylvania McDonald's, writing on Truth Social beforehand: "Heading to McDonalds now. If I stay for 20 minutes, it will be 20 minutes longer than Lyin' Kamala Harris has worked there." 

Later that day, what appeared to be an internal memo (archived) sent out by McDonald's USA went viral on multiple social media platforms in which the company clarified that it doesn't "endorse candidates for elected office. … We are not red or blue — we are golden." 

In the memo, the company allegedly addresses the claims that Harris worked at McDonald's, saying: "While we and our franchisees don't have records for all positions dating back to the early '80s, what makes '1 in 8' so powerful is the shared experience so many Americans have had." The memo added that the company was glad to hear of the vice president's memories of "working under the Arches" as well as Trump's love of the brand.

Other reputable outlets, including The Washington Post, Bloomberg Law and The Associated Press, said that they "obtained" the memo, but as of this writing we were unable to independently confirm the memo's authenticity. Therefore, we rate this claim as research in progress.

McDonald's has not publicly confirmed the memo's authenticity. We wrote to the company seeking confirmation and will update this story if we receive a response.

Sources

Bump, Philip. 'No, McDonald's Didn't Confirm Trump's Baseless Claim about Kamala Harris'. The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/21/trump-harris-worked-at-mcdonalds/.

'McDonald's Agreed to Trump Event but Says It Isn't Endorsing a Presidential Candidate'. AP News, 21 Oct. 2024, https://apnews.com/article/mcdonalds-trump-campaign-harris-fries-56a5773528e212df058f85ec0f264578.

McDonald's Seeks to Stay Out of Politics Following Trump Visit. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/esg/mcdonalds-seeks-to-stay-out-of-politics-following-trump-visit. Accessed 21 Oct. 2024.

Taija PerryCook is a Seattle-based journalist who previously worked for the PNW news site Crosscut and the Jordan Times in Amman.