Now that Joe Biden is out of the 2024 presidential race, he’s put what remains of his political weight behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
More important than his endorsement, however, are the millions of dollars from his re-election campaign that have been shifted to the fledgling Harris campaign.
But Donald Trump is calling foul on the whole deal, as Newsmax reported:
The Trump campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday, accusing Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden of violating campaign finance laws over the Democrat presumptive nominee receiving $91.5 million of Biden’s war chest, The New York Times reported.
Trump campaign general counsel David Warrington filed the complaint, accusing Harris of a “$91.5 million dollar heist,” according to the Times.
At issue for Trump’s presidential campaign is that the money raised by Biden and rolled over to Harris constitutes an “excessive contribution,” the Times reported. Harris received access to the funds when Biden’s team amended the name of its presidential campaign committee, “Biden for President,” to “Harris for President.” However, Warrington argued, Harris is not yet the official nominee.
The politically incestuous arrangement has sparked significant pushback among various pundits.
With Joe Biden saying he won’t seek reelection, a significant legal question needs answering.@KatiePavlich: “There’s a big question about whether Joe Biden can transfer all these campaign funds to Kamala Harris before he was actually nominated at the DNC convention in… pic.twitter.com/gNUKUu0R2h
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 21, 2024
Kamala Harris must return the campaign funds she seized from the former presumptive Democrat nominee so says FEC Chairman Sean Cooksey. After Biden was was forced out under threat of the 25th Amendment Harris laid claim to his campaign’s bank accounts. pic.twitter.com/cllMvJ2xJS
— @amuse (@amuse) July 23, 2024
🚨 #BREAKING: The Trump campaign has just filed an FEC complaint against Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, accusing them of illegally shifting campaign funds
INVESTIGATE & PROSECUTE! pic.twitter.com/SCmY1acPjI
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) July 23, 2024
Kamala Harris did in fact inherit Biden for President via ActBlue where both collect donations.
The question is if this instant transfer of funds is susceptible to legal challenges.https://t.co/WuSleP5lwN
Source: Reuters
PS: I love being right pic.twitter.com/Nc61CARKuQ
— paige s. (@PaigeSully88) July 24, 2024
Although Trump-appointed FEC Chair Sean Cooksey has his doubts regarding whether Harris is entitled to the Biden campaign’s cash, Democrat-aligned officials are insisting that everything is on the up and up.
As The Hill reported:
“I think it’s really complicated, is the short answer,” Cooksey told “Morning Edition” on NPR. “What he’s attempting to do is to give his entire committee, the cash and all the assets, over to another person.”
“I think it’s gonna have to go through a process, through the FEC,” Cooksey added. “I expect, there’s probably going to be challenges to that at the agency, and probably in the courts as well.”
Democratic Commissioner Dara Lindenbaum, who chaired the commission last year, pushed back on the suggestion that Harris would not be able to access those funds.
“It’s quite clear, Vice President Harris can continue using the campaign committee and its funds,” Lindenbaum told The Hill.
Here’s some additional debate about the issue:
