Trump campaign wants FEC to block Harris from accessing Biden’s campaign money
Written by ABC AUDIO on July 24, 2024
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump campaign has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission claiming that Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign cannot take over President Joe Biden’s campaign’s money, calling it a violation of campaign finance contribution limit.
“Kamala Harris is seeking to perpetrate a $91.5 million dollar heist of Joe Biden’s leftover campaign cash — a brazen money grab that would constitute the single largest excessive contribution and biggest violation in the history of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended,” the complaint filed Tuesday and obtained by ABC News, claims.
The complaint, written by Trump campaign’s attorney David Warrington and targeting Harris, Biden, the Biden campaign (now the Harris campaign), and its treasurer, Keana Spencer, argues that the Biden campaign is “flagrantly violating the Act by making and receiving an excessive contribution of nearly one hundred million dollars” to the Harris campaign.
Harris campaign spokesperson Charles Kretchmer Lutvak in response to the complaint wrote in a statement, “Republicans may be jealous that Democrats are energized to defeat Donald Trump and his MAGA allies, but baseless legal claims – like the ones they’ve made for years to try to suppress votes and steal elections – will only distract them while we sign up volunteers, talk to voters, and win this election.”
Multiple campaign finance experts have said the Harris campaign has lawful access to the Biden campaign’s leftover money — nearly $96 million as recently as July 1 — because a presidential candidate and a vice presidential candidate share the same entity as their joint campaign depository under federal election law.
On Sunday, the Biden campaign officially changed its name to the Harris campaign, placing Harris, who was previously listed in its filing as the vice presidential candidate, to the top of the ticket.
But the crux of the Trump campaign’s argument is that because Biden and Harris have yet to go through the formal nomination process to become the presidential and vice presidential nominees, they couldn’t share the same committee.
“For purposes of the 2024 election cycle, and especially with respect to the primary election still underway, Biden for President is the authorized campaign committee of Mr. Biden and Mr. Biden only,” the complaint argues, claiming the Biden campaign cannot simply amend its filing to change its presidential candidate.
“The Commission must immediately find reason to believe and quickly end this ongoing violation,” the letter concludes, though the FEC is unlikely to resolve the matter before the election. (ABC News has reached out to the FEC for comment.)
Veteran Republican election lawyer Charlie Spies has recently made a similar argument in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal — claiming that Harris does not have access to the Biden campaign’s money because neither have gone through a formal nomination process yet.
Other election experts ABC News has spoken with have refuted that argument, saying that has not been the FEC’s interpretation of federal election law.
“That might’ve been an issue if this were their first cycle as a ticket, but under FEC rules it’s been Harris’s campaign committee too since 2020 — she’s not being added now,” said Adav Noti, a former FEC attorney who now serves as executive director of watchdog group Campaign Legal Center.
“The fact that Harris has been consistently reported as the VP on committee filings since 2020 reflects how the rule has long been interpreted—basically, that an incumbent president and vice-president continue to share an authorized committee throughout their term,” echoed Brendan Fischer, an election law expert and deputy executive director of watchdog group Documented.
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