Dem: ‘Reasonable Observer’ Could Conclude Law Prevents VP Fund Switch

A Democrat congressman acknowledged Tuesday that a “reasonable observer could interpret” a campaign finance statute posted by FEC Chairman Sean Cooksey “to imply that Vice President Harris may not be entitled” to President Biden’s war chest.

On Sunday, Cooksey posted language from a federal statute that reads, “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 in accordance” with existing statutes “as appropriate.” Following President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, the Biden campaign recently transferred $91.5 million in campaign funds to his vice president, Kamala Harris. Biden’s team “renamed three of its fundraising entities” and “plac[ed] them in Harris’s name,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

In a Tuesday letter to the FEC, New York Rep. Joseph Morelle admitted that “a reasonable observer could interpret [Cooksey’s] post” — which was simply a verbatim quote from a federal campaign finance statute — “to imply that Vice President Harris may not be entitled to the finances from a campaign for which she has been a named candidate for almost four years.”

Morelle worried that Cooksey’s “recent social media activity” might “sow misguided doubt and confusion about the state of the presidential election and the Commission’s partiality.”

The Trump campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Tuesday challenging the transfer of funds and reportedly calling it “the largest campaign finance violation in American history.”

In the complaint, Trump campaign General Counsel David Warrington reportedly contended that the $91.5 million in campaign funds originally raised by Biden’s presidential campaign cannot be transferred to Harris, who has yet to be named the official Democrat nominee.

Biden and Harris are “flagrantly violating the[[Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) of 1971, as amended]by making and receiving an excessive contribution of nearly one hundred million dollars, and for filing fraudulent forms with the Commission purporting to repurpose one candidate’s principal campaign committee for the use of another candidate,” Warrington reportedly wrote in the complaint.

Some contend that this unprecedented transfer of tens of millions of dollars is legally fine because Harris’ name was listed on the original Biden-Harris campaign committee, Cooksey has said the situation is “really complicated,” noting the “unprecedented” nature of the situation in a Monday NPR interview.

“We have a presidential nominee or a presumptive nominee dropping out just weeks before his party convention. And he’s – what he’s attempting to do is to give his entire committee, the cash and all the assets … [o]ver to another person,” Cooksey said. “I think it’s going to have to go through a process through the FEC. I think I expect there’s going to be probably challenges to that at the agency and probably in the courts, as well.”

Morelle, in addition to bashing the chairman’s use of language from federal law, also wrote in the letter that Cooksey’s comments on NPR “seem[ed] to invite administrative challenges and litigation concerning this issue.”

Cooksey responded to Morelle on Tuesday afternoon, noting that “All I did was quote federal regulations.”

“Why are Democrats afraid of the law?” he asked.

Morelle did not respond by the time of publication to The Federalist’s request for comment on his observation that a “reasonable observer could interpret” the campaign finance statute posted by FEC Chairman Sean Cooksey “to imply that Vice President Harris may not be entitled” to Biden’s campaign funds.

The Trump campaign’s complaint also reportedly challenged the fund transfer’s legality by noting that Harris isn’t the official Democrat nominee until she’s been deemed as such during the Democratic National Convention next month. He also contended that, after the current president’s withdrawal from the 2024 race, the Biden campaign is not “in a position to keep the general-election contributions he has received,” according to the New York Times.

“To date, Biden for President has provided no indication that it will return or redesignate all of its general election contributions,” Warrington reportedly wrote. “Thus, each and every general election contribution received by Biden for President is an excessive contribution.”

Warrington also “accused the campaign’s treasurer and Ms. Harris of ‘attempted fraud’ of the F.E.C. by using their forms to ‘rename and repurpose’ the committee, seeking a Justice Department referral,” according to The New York Times.

Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood