Sean Cooksey, the chairman of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), has expressed concern that the Biden campaign may have difficulties transferring President Joe Biden’s campaign war chest to Vice President Kamala Harris.
Kamala Harris is all smiles in her first public appearance after her party's coup to force Biden off the ticket.
What did Kamala know about Biden's decline and when did she know it? COVERUP OF THE CENTURY! pic.twitter.com/l46gtSAxKI
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 22, 2024
After Biden suddenly dropped his reelection bid on July 21, commentators quickly begun speculating as to his possible replacement on the 2024 Democrat presidential ticket, as he initially did not name a successor. However, many immediately pointed out that the Biden campaign’s war chest of donations could only be transferred to his running mate whose name is already on the campaign: Harris.
Soon after he dropped out, Biden officially endorsed Harris for the presidential nomination — but, according to the FEC chair, the initial argument that the vice president could easily gain control of Biden’s war chest may not be as easy.
11 C.F.R. § 110.1(b)(3):
"If the candidate is not a candidate in the general election, all contributions made for the general election shall be either returned or refunded to the contributors or redesignated …, or reattributed …, as appropriate."
— Sean Cooksey (@SeanJCooksey) July 21, 2024
Speaking with NPR, Cooksey stated: “I think it’s really complicated, is the short answer. I mean, we take a step back to consider the situation – this is really unprecedented in terms of modern political history, and certainly in terms of campaign finance law. We have a presidential nominee or a presumptive nominee dropping out just weeks before his party convention.”
“What he’s attempting to do is to give his entire committee, the cash and all the assets, over to another person,” Cooksey, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, added.
“I think it’s gonna have to go through a process, through the FEC,” he continued. “I expect, there’s probably going to be challenges to that at the agency, and probably in the courts as well.”
Dara Lindenbaum, a Democrat who served as FEC chairwoman last year, reportedly disagrees with Cooksey’s assessment, as she claimed in a statement to The Hill that it is “quite clear” that Harris “can continue using the campaign committee and its funds.”
Meanwhile, less than 24 hours after Biden endorsed Harris, she had already raised nearly $50 million. If Harris is successful in obtaining Biden’s war chest, that $50 million will be added to the roughly $96 million cash on hand that the Biden campaign reported on June 30 in the latest FEC report.
Within hours of Biden’s announcement, the campaign had already filed paperwork to change its name from “Biden for President” to “Harris for President,” and the “BidenHQ” account on X had already been changed to “KamalaHQ.”
Looks like @bidenhq was just changed to @kamalahq
More proof that Biden hasn't been running anything
It's the system that's running their puppet pic.twitter.com/61ju3dprRR
— Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) July 22, 2024
