Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Tuesday, arguing US vice-president Kamala Harris could not legally take over funds raised by President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign.
Mr Biden (81) endorsed Ms Harris when he ended his reelection bid on Sunday. She quickly took control of Mr Biden’s campaign accounts and on Monday night wrapped up the nomination by winning pledges from a majority of the delegates who at next month’s party convention will determine the nominee, according to her campaign.
The fight over the accounts, which had roughly $95 million (€87 million) in the bank at the end of June, is part of a multipronged effort by Republicans to stymie Ms Harris’s bid to lead the Democratic ticket.
The Trump campaign argued that Ms Harris undertook a “brazen money grab,” according to the filing by David Warrington, the campaign’s general counsel. In the filing, which was shared with Reuters, Mr Warrington said Ms Harris was in the process of committing what he described as the “the largest campaign finance violation in American history”.
Saurav Ghosh, a lawyer at the Campaign Legal Center, a non-partisan watchdog group, said because Ms Harris was already part of “Biden for President” as the vice presidential candidate, her claim on the money should be secure.
In any case, election regulators are unlikely to resolve the issue before the November 5th presidential election.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) said they were unable to comment on unresolved enforcement matters.
Ms Harris’s campaign has said it had raised $100 million since Sunday, when Biden stepped back from the campaign and endorsed her – exceeding Biden’s remaining tally in just a few days. Her campaign brushed off the FEC complaint.
Ms Harris vowed on Tuesday that Americans were “not going back” to the “chaos” of the Trump years, as she made her campaign trail debut in battleground Wisconsin with just over 100 days left before the election.
In an fiery speech a day after securing enough Democratic delegates to win the party’s nomination, the vice-president sought to frame the contest against Mr Trump as a choice between starkly different visions for the country, casting his as regressive and backward-looking and hers as optimistic and forward-looking.
“Do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion and rule of law or a country of chaos, fear and hate?” she asked, drawing roaring applause and chants of “Kamala” – reflecting an enthusiasm that has eluded Democrats in recent months.
As she arrived in Milwaukee, the two most powerful Democrats in Congress, the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, and the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, threw their support behind Ms Harris during a joint press conference in Washington DC.
Mr Biden returned to Washington on Tuesday for the first time since withdrawing from the presidential race and announced plans to address the nation Wednesday night to explain his decision and outline how he wants to use his final six months in office.
The president emerged from isolation at his vacation house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he spent six days recovering from Covid and recalibrating his political future, and flew back to the capital.
His trip to the White House was the first time he had been seen in public since late Wednesday.
Republican leaders, meanwhile, have warned party members against using overtly racist and sexist attacks against Ms Harris.
At a closed-door meeting of House Republicans on Tuesday, National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Richard Hudson urged members to stick to criticising Ms Harris for her role in policies.
“This election will be about policies and not personalities,” House speaker Mike Johnson told reporters after the meeting. “This is not personal with regard to Kamala Harris and her ethnicity or her gender have nothing to do with this whatsoever.”
The meeting came after some members and Mr Trump’s allies began to cast the vice-president – a former district attorney, attorney general and senator – as a “DEI” hire – a reference to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. – Agencies