Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and President Joe Biden. File.
| Photo Credit: AP

The Trump campaign has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission arguing that money raised for U.S. President Joe Biden’s 2024 reelection bid could not be transferred to Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.

The complaint was filed on Tuesday by the Trump campaign’s general counsel David Warrington and argues that transferring the funds to Harris’s presidential campaign would amount to “flagrantly violating” the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971.

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On Sunday, President Biden announced that he was withdrawing from the race for the White House on November 5 and endorsed Ms. Harris amid mounting pressure from top Democrats and donors following his disastrous presidential debate against Trump in late June.

“Kamala Harris is seeking to perpetrate a USD 91.5 million dollar heist of Joe Biden’s leftover campaign cash — a brazen money grab that would constitute the single largest excessive contribution and biggest violation in the history of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended,” Mr. Warrington said.

The Harris campaign dismissed it as baseless. In his complaint that was first reported by The New York Times, Warrington accused Biden and Harris of “flagrantly violating the Act 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.” “Kamala Harris is in the process of committing the largest campaign finance violation in American history and she is using the Commission’s own forms to do it,” Warrington said in his filing.

“The Commission must not and cannot sit idly by while one candidate takes nearly one hundred million dollars from the authorised committee of another, in violation of the Act and the will of the donors who gave the money in the first place,” he wrote.

Mr. Warrington alleged that if “Kamala Harris were a candidate for something in 2024, federal law requires her to have filed a Statement of Candidacy and for her name to have appeared in the name of her authorised committee. But Kamala Harris’s name does not appear in the name of her purported authorised committee, ‘Biden for President,’ and, until Sunday, no Statement of Candidacy existed for her.

Harris campaign spokesperson Charles Kretchmer Lutvak responded to the FEC complaint in a statement on Tuesday, saying, “Republicans may be jealous that Democrats are energised to defeat Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again 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 statement also cited the campaign’s fundraising efforts so far, “raising USD 100 million in our first 36 hours and signing up 58,000 volunteers.” It’s unlikely that the commission would take any action until well after Election Day, given its slow pace of resolving enforcement questions, CNN reported.

An FEC spokesperson declined to comment, citing the agency’s policy on not discussing enforcement matters, the report said.

President Joe Biden walks to his car after stepping off of Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on July 17, 2024. Biden is returning to his home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., to self-isolate after testing positive for COVID-19.
| Photo Credit: AP

US President Joe Biden is expected to make a major announcement on his re-election bid, with several senior Democratic leaders suggesting that he leave the race following his disastrous debate performance, a failed assassination attempt on his rival Donald Trump, his poor health, and falling poll numbers, according to media reports.

“Several people close to President Biden said on Thursday that they believe he has begun to accept the idea that he may not be able to win in November and may have to drop out of the race, bowing to the growing demands of many anxious members of his party,” The New York Times reported.

Also read | Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Democrats make a fresh push for Joe Biden to reconsider 2024 race ahead of convention

Mr. Biden, 81, is spending time at his Delaware residence in isolation after he was tested positive for COVID-19. Media reports said that top leaders of the Democratic party, including former president Barack Obama, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, have asked him to leave the presidential race, in the absence of which the party risks losing the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives.

“People close to top Democrats said Thursday that it now appeared it was a matter of when—not if—Biden bows out of the presidential race. In the past day or so, former President Barack Obama has told friends who have called him that Biden’s path to victory is narrow, according to people familiar with the calls,” The NYT report said.

The Washington Post reported Thursday night that Ms. Pelosi has stepped up her behind-the-scenes role in working to persuade the president to bow out of campaign. Obama has said that he has a very slight chance of winning the race.

According to The Hill, Vice President Kamala Harris has started looking for options for her running mate. The three being talked about right now are Senator Mark Kelly, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper.

Most of the media reports said that Mr. Biden’s announcement on his re-election bid might come after the conclusion of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

“One of the people close to him warned that the president had not yet made up his mind to leave the race after three weeks of insisting that almost nothing would drive him out. But another said that ‘reality is setting in’, and that it would not be a surprise if Mr Biden made an announcement soon endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement,” The NYT reported.