--- title: Trump Complains to FEC About Harris Taking Over Biden’s Campaign Funds description: It’s a novel legal question but campaign finance experts say the $96 million transfer is probably allowed and the argument against it may be “wishful thinking.” canonical: https://time.com/7002325/donald-trump-fec-complaint-kamala-harris-campaign-funds-biden-transfer/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-07-24T02:30:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:50:23.809Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Complains to FEC About Harris Taking Over Biden’s Campaign Funds og:description: It’s a novel legal question but campaign finance experts say the $96 million transfer is probably allowed and the argument against it may be “wishful thinking.” og:url: https://time.com/7002325/donald-trump-fec-complaint-kamala-harris-campaign-funds-biden-transfer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf9bb2886bebccda/698a592016d884f4fac3ee61/kamala-harris_70f5c4.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Complains to FEC About Harris Taking Over Biden’s Campaign Funds twitter:description: It’s a novel legal question but campaign finance experts say the $96 million transfer is probably allowed and the argument against it may be “wishful thinking.” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf9bb2886bebccda/698a592016d884f4fac3ee61/kamala-harris_70f5c4.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Files FEC Complaint About Harris Taking Over Biden’s $96M Campaign War Chest > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Inside the Final Hours of the Biden Campaign [Watch (HLS stream): Inside the Final Hours of the Biden Campaign](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xebter6w.m3u8) (1:09)  _Published 2024-07-22. TIME White House Correspondent Brian Bennett speaks outside of the White House._ by [Gregory Korte / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Gregory Korte / Bloomberg Contributor Jul 24, 2024 2:30 AM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at her first campaign rally, in Milwaukee, Wis., on July 23, 2024. Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at her first campaign rally, in Milwaukee, Wis., on July 23, 2024. Kamil Krzaczynski—AFP/Getty Images by [Gregory Korte / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Gregory Korte / Bloomberg Contributor Jul 24, 2024 2:30 AM UTC Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission claiming that the transfer of Joe Biden’s $96 million campaign war chest to Kamala Harris violates the law. **Read More:** [_Why Joe Biden Dropped Out_](https://time.com/7001028/why-joe-biden-stepped-down/) David Warrington, a lawyer for the Trump campaign, called the move “a brazen money grab that would constitute the single largest excessive contribution and biggest violation in the history of the Federal Election Campaign Act,” according to the complaint, a copy of which was seen by Bloomberg News. Shortly after Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday and anointed Harris as his preferred successor, she changed the name of his campaign committee to Harris for President and took stewardship of its bank accounts. Her campaign said it’s since raised more than $100 million in additional funds. **Read More:** [_Here’s Who Has Endorsed Kamala Harris for President So Far_](https://time.com/7001125/kamala-harris-endorsements-biden-bill-hillary-clinton/) The legal question is a novel one, but many campaign finance experts say the transfer is probably allowed. Steve Roberts, a lawyer who has represented GOP candidates, has said the argument against it was “maybe wishful thinking” by his Republican colleagues. The Harris campaign said the complaint would have no impact on its fundraising or spending. “Republicans may be jealous that Democrats are energized to defeat Donald Trump and his MAGA 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,” said Harris campaign spokesman Charles Kretchmer Lutvak. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7002325/donald-trump-fec-complaint-kamala-harris-campaign-funds-biden-transfer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7002325/donald-trump-fec-complaint-kamala-harris-campaign-funds-biden-transfer/"},"headline":"Trump Files FEC Complaint About Harris Taking Over Biden’s $96M Campaign War Chest","datePublished":"2024-07-24T02:30:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:50:23.809Z","description":"It’s a novel legal question but campaign finance experts say the $96 million transfer is probably allowed and the argument against it may be “wishful thinking.”","url":"https://time.com/7002325/donald-trump-fec-complaint-kamala-harris-campaign-funds-biden-transfer/","keywords":["Campaign Finance","wire","overnight","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf9bb2886bebccda/698a592016d884f4fac3ee61/kamala-harris_70f5c4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Gregory Korte / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf9bb2886bebccda/698a592016d884f4fac3ee61/kamala-harris_70f5c4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris","caption":"U.S. Vice President and Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks at West Allis Central High School during her first campaign rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 23, 2024.","creditText":"Kamil Krzaczynski—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/campaign-finance/","name":"Campaign Finance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7002325/donald-trump-fec-complaint-kamala-harris-campaign-funds-biden-transfer/","name":"Trump Files FEC Complaint About Harris Taking Over Biden’s $96M Campaign War Chest"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Inside the Final Hours of the Biden Campaign","description":"TIME White House Correspondent Brian Bennett speaks outside of the White House.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/xebter6w/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2024-07-22T15:48:27.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xebter6w.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/7002325/donald-trump-fec-complaint-kamala-harris-campaign-funds-biden-transfer/","duration":"PT1M9S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/7002325/donald-trump-fec-complaint-kamala-harris-campaign-funds-biden-transfer/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```