Trump's campaign challenges Harris's takeover of Biden's funds
Donald Trump's campaign team filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) regarding funds transferred by Vice President Kamala Harris that President Joe Biden raised, reported the British newspaper "Guardian" on Wednesday. Harris is likely to be the Democratic candidate in the presidential election.
The complaint filed by Trump's lawyers is not a formal lawsuit but a way to call on the commission to investigate the legality of this fund transfer under election law, explained the newspaper.
Biden, who endorsed Harris, announced on Sunday that she would take over both his campaign team and budget. By the end of June, the team had raised nearly CAD 130 million CAD.
The battle for resources
American media reported on Monday that Trump's lawyers might start a legal battle to prevent the vice president's team from taking over these funds.
The complaint was filed by Trump's chief legal advisor David Warrington, who argued in his application that the committee named "Biden for President" cannot simply change its name to "Harris for President", and the fund transfer constitutes a "little more than a thinly veiled $91.5m (CAD 126m) excessive contribution from one presidential candidate to another, that is, from Joe Biden’s old campaign to Kamala Harris’s new campaign. This effort makes a mockery of our campaign finance laws."
The British newspaper said it is unclear whether the FEC will initiate any proceedings related to the Republican complaint. In any case, according to "Guardian" sources, Trump's team is implementing a strategy of initiating multiple legal battles to hinder Kamala Harris from obtaining Biden's campaign budget.
The vice president's campaign team announced that the Republican complaint is baseless, considering the funds raised for the election campaign have always been designated as support for the Biden-Harris tandem.
The campaign team also reported that within 36 hours of Biden announcing he would not seek re-election, CAD 130 million was donated to Harris's campaign.
