This woman raised over $1 billion and couldn’t even settle her tab before she peaced out

Perhaps most significantly, the deal kept hidden from donors that Ms. Harris’s repeated, earnest and often urgent solicitations for the D.N.C. were, in fact, going to settle old bills from her campaign.

“They will put your donation to work immediately toward winning the next set of elections,” Ms. Harris wrote in an email in February to supporters.

In reality, there was a ledger of how much she was raising and how much was paid for old bills, three people familiar with the arrangement said.