FEC chairman predicts legal challenges if Kamala Harris tries to access Biden’s war chest

The “unprecedented” nature of President Biden’s decision to hand Vice President Kamala Harris the key to his campaign coffers could prove “complicated” and give rise to legal challenges, the head of the Federal Election Commission warned on Monday.

The short answer is, “I think it’s really complicated,” Federal Election Commission Chairman Sean Cooksey – an appointee of former President Donald Trump – told NPR when asked about the vice president’s ability to access the Biden campaign’s considerable assets.

“I mean, we take a step back to look at the situation – this is really unprecedented in modern political history and certainly with regard to campaign finance law,” he added. “We have a presidential candidate or a prospective candidate dropping out just weeks before his convention.”

Harris, 59, is expected to inherit a whopping $240 million in cash from the Biden campaign, their joint fundraising committees and the Democratic National Committee after the 81-year-old president decided to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.

The Biden-Harris campaign quickly removed Biden’s name from FEC filings on Sunday after the president’s announcement, renamed itself “Harris for President” and named the Harris Victory Fund and the Harris Action Fund as joint fundraising committees.

Cooksey, one of six FEC commissioners, said handing over the money to Harris was not as simple and straightforward as some have claimed.

“Biden is trying to give his entire committee, money and assets to someone else,” Cooksey said.

“I think it has to go through a process, through the FEC,” he added. “I expect there will probably be objections at the agency and probably in court.”

While Cooksey acknowledged that some campaign finance lawyers have concluded that Harris has a legitimate claim to the Biden campaign funds, other experts have not reached that conclusion.

“I think other election law experts have actually come to the opposite conclusion,” he said.

“And I think everyone would agree that this is completely unprecedented and raises a lot of new questions,” Cooksey argued.

The FEC chairman indicated that he anticipated several opportunities to challenge the attempted transfer, but that the short period of time until election day would require legal action.

“There is a process where private citizens can file complaints with the Federal Election Commission. There is also a process where they request prospective opinions. One problem with those processes is that they can take a lot of time, and we don’t have a lot of time left until the election, I think there are 106 days left. So I think there will be a lot of challenges in the courts as well,” Cooksey said.

Cooksey’s predecessor, Democratic FEC Commissioner Dara Lindenbaum, has argued that Harris is entitled to the campaign funds.

“It is absolutely clear that Vice President Harris can continue to use the campaign committee and its resources,” Lindenbaum told The Hill on Monday.

If Harris ultimately does not receive the Democratic presidential nomination or is deemed ineligible, the money could be transferred to the DNC or a super PAC affiliated with the final candidate.