FEC Chairman: Biden Donations ‘Shall Be Either Returned or Refunded’ After Drop Out

Federal Election Commission (FEC) Chairman Sean Cooksey has announced that all donations made to Joe Biden for the November election “shall be either returned or refunded” or redesignated “as appropriate” following his departure from the presidential race.

Citing the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Cooksey made the statement in a Sunday afternoon X post after Biden announced his decision to drop out:

The full text of that particular CFR rule states, “If the candidate is not a candidate in the general election, all contributions made for the general election shall be either returned or refunded to the contributors or redesignated in accordance with 11 CFR 110.1(b)(5), or reattributed in accordance with 11 CFR 110.1(k)(3), as appropriate.”

The exceptions and loopholes for redesignating or reattributing the funds were also covered in the regulations:

The treasurer of an authorized political committee may request a written redesignation of a contribution by the contributor for a different election if—

(A) The contribution was designated in writing for a particular election, and the contribution, either on its face or when aggregated with other contributions from the same contributor for the same election, exceeds the limitation on contributions set forth in 11 CFR 110.1(b)(1);

(B) The contribution was designated in writing for a particular election and the contribution was made after that election and the contribution cannot be accepted under the net debts outstanding provisions of 11 CFR 110.1(b)(3);

(C) The contribution was not designated in writing for a particular election, and the contribution exceeds the limitation on contributions set forth in 11 CFR 110.1(b)(1); or

(D) The contribution was not designated in writing for a particular election, and the contribution was received after the date of an election for which there are net debts outstanding on the date the contribution is received.

…

A contribution shall be considered to be reattributed to another contributor if—

(1) The treasurer of the recipient political committee asks the contributor whether the contribution is intended to be a joint contribution by more than one person, and informs the contributor that he or she may request the return of the excessive portion of the contribution if it is not intended to be a joint contribution; and

(2) Within sixty days from the date of the treasurer’s receipt of the contribution, the contributor provides the treasurer with a written reattribution of the contribution, which is signed by each contributor, and which indicates the amount to be attributed to each contributor if equal attribution is not intended.

Since Biden had not yet formally been nominated by the Democratic Party, questions have arisen on if he can legally transfer his chest of $100 million to Vice President Kamala Harris, who he endorsed to take his place after dropping out Sunday. 

According to election lawyer Charlie Spies, Biden will not be able to do that.

He wrote in the Wall Street Journal last week:

Before the nomination officially goes to Mr. Biden, his campaign is limited to donating $2,000 to the Democratic nominee, whether that new standard bearer is Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer or Ms. Harris.

…

In August 2023 the Biden for President campaign amended its FEC Form 1 to assert on Line 5 that the committee was the principal campaign committee for both Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris. At the time nobody had reason to question that maneuver, and if at the Democratic convention Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris emerge as their party’s nominees, then there won’t be a need to challenge the premature designation. If, however, Mr. Biden were to drop out before being nominated and attempt an unprecedented and possibly illegal unlimited transfer of funds to Ms. Harris, the courts would likely interpret the plain language of the statute to prohibit such a contribution.

…

If President Biden is committed to passing the torch to his vice president, and wants to be able to seed her campaign with the current Biden for President campaign war chest, he’ll first have to become his party’s legal nominee. After shuffling through the Democratic National Committee’s planned roll call vote he’d be free to drop out. Ms. Harris could seamlessly slip into the driver’s seat. That’s a risky strategy, as it requires maintaining an obvious fiction under intense public scrutiny for another six weeks.

Biden’s drop out comes just days after the DNC indicated their intentions to formally nominate Biden in an early August virtual roll call, Breitbart News reported.