Following Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race, Federal Election Commission (FEC) Chairman Sean Cooksey announced that all donations made to him in the November election will be “returned or refunded” or redesignated “in an appropriate manner.”
Cooksey made the statement in an X-post on Sunday afternoon after Biden announced his withdrawal, citing the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).
11 CFR § 110.1(b)(3):
“If a candidate is not a candidate at the general election, all contributions paid for the general election shall be returned or refunded to the donors, redesignated or reallocated, as appropriate.”
— Sean Cooksey (@SeanJCooksey) July 21, 2024
of Full text This particular CFR regulation provides that, “If a candidate is not a candidate in the general election, all contributions made for the general election shall be returned or refunded to the donor, redesignated in accordance with 11 CFR 110.1(b)(5), or reallocated in accordance with 11 CFR 110.1(k)(3), as appropriate.”
Exceptions and loopholes regarding reallocation or re-allocation of funds are also covered in the rules.
The treasurer of a certified political committee may request in writing from a donor to redesignate a contribution to another election if:
(A) The contribution is designated in writing for a particular election and the contribution, on its face or when aggregated with other contributions for the same election by the same donor, exceeds the contribution limits set forth in 11 CFR 110.1(b)(1).
(B) The contribution is designated in writing for a specific election, the contribution is made after that election, and the contribution is not accepted under the unpaid net liability provisions of 11 CFR 110.1(b)(3).
(C) The contribution is not designated in writing for a specific election and the contribution exceeds the contribution limits set forth in 11 CFR 110.1(b)(1); or
(D) If the contribution is not designated in writing for a specific election and is received after the election date for which there is a net debt outstanding on the date the contribution is received.
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A donation will be considered reattributed to another donor if:
(1) The accounting officer of the receiving political committee shall inquire from the donor whether the donation is intended to be a joint contribution by two or more persons and, if it is not intended to be a joint contribution, shall inform the donor that he or she may request a return of any excess contribution.
(2) Within 60 days after the date the Treasurer receives the contributions, the donors shall submit to the Treasurer a written reallocation of the contributions, signed by each donor and setting forth the amount to be distributed to each donor if an equal distribution is not intended.
Biden has not yet been formally nominated by the Democratic Party. Questions Occurred On whether he can legally transfer his $100 million fortune to Vice President Kamala Harris approved He will take his place after withdrawing on Sunday.
Biden won’t be able to do that, according to election lawyer Charlie Spiess.
he I have written In The Wall Street Journal last week:
Until Biden is officially nominated, his campaign is limited to donating $2,000 to the Democratic candidate, whether that be the new standard-bearer, Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer or Harris.
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In August 2023, the Biden presidential campaign amended its FEC Form 1 to claim on line 5 that the committee was the lead campaign committee for both Biden and Harris. At the time, no one had reason to question the ploy, and if Biden and Harris emerged as the party’s nominees at the Democratic Convention, there would be no need to challenge the premature nomination. But if Biden were to withdraw before the nomination and attempt an unprecedented, and possibly illegal, unlimited transfer of funds to Harris, the courts would likely interpret the statute’s clear language to prohibit such donations.
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If President Biden is willing to hand the baton to his vice president and wants to fund her campaign with the current Biden campaign fund, he must first become the party’s official candidate. He is free to drop out if he passes the roll call vote scheduled by the Democratic National Committee. Ms. Harris may smoothly take the lead. It’s a risky strategy because it requires maintaining an obvious fiction under the intense public scrutiny for another six weeks.
Biden’s withdrawal came just days after the Democratic National Convention. Shown Breitbart News reported that Biden indicated he intended to formally nominate the nominee during an online roll call in early August.
