The Trump campaign has lodged a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) regarding the transfer of millions of dollars from President Joe Biden’s campaign funds to Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign. Former President Donald Trump’s campaign alleges that the $96 million transferred is a violation, according to Bloomberg News.
In the complaint, David Warrington, a lawyer for the former president’s campaign, described the transfer as being “a brazen money grab that would constitute the single largest excessive contribution and biggest violation in the history of the Federal Election Campaign Act.” The outlet states that the FEC has viewed the complaint.
Charles Kretchmer Lutvak, a spokesman for the Harris campaign told the outlet that “baseless legal claims” would only serve as a distraction for Republicans to defeat Democrats. Lutvak stated, “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.
The complaint came after Biden announced that he would not be seeking another term as president and endorsed Harris to be the Democrat Party’s presidential nominee. On Sunday, the Biden-Harris campaign announced that it had changed filings with the FEC in order to “rename its principal committee,” according to CNN. In doing so, Harris was also officially declared as being a presidential candidate.
Trevor Potter, the president of the Campaign Legal Center, explained in a statement that there are “Democratic Party rules in place” regarding how a “new nominee” is picked, along with FEC rules regarding the funds that belonged to the Biden-Harris campaign: “There are Democratic Party rules in place to govern the process of selecting a new nominee. There are also rules established by the Federal Election Commission that apply to the funds currently held by the Biden-Harris campaign.
Potter further explained, “The application of those FEC rules depends in part on who becomes the Democratic nominee for president. Specifically, because Biden and Harris share a campaign committee, the Vice President and her running mate can continue using the campaign’s existing funds for the general election if she is on the Democratic ticket as either the presidential or vice-presidential nominee.
Since Biden’s exit from the presidential race, Harris has received a wave of endorsements from Democrats such as Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY. Furthermore, Harris’s campaign raised $81 million in donations within 24 hours from 888,000 grassroots donors.