How Republicans will try to hold Biden’s campaign war chest hostage

Republican officials appear to be preparing for legal threats to stop Kamala Harris from inheriting a massive campaign cash pile from Joe Biden after he ended his presidential campaign.

Within hours after Biden endorsed his vice president for the Democratic nomination, campaign officials notified the Federal Election Commission the Biden-Harris campaign is now “Harris for President.”

The Harris campaign now has access to more than $90 million in cash on hand, according to government records. Her candidacy also opened the floodgates from small- and large-dollar donors to the campaign and Democratic causes, with the Harris campaign raising $81 million within 24 hours of its launch.

But GOP lawyers and officials are now arguing the campaign can’t simply switch things up, signaling a legal battle to stop the cash flow.

Moments after Biden announced he was ending his re-election campaign, Donald Trump-appointed FEC chair Sean Cooksey posted an excerpt of campaign finance law that requires contributions to a candidate for the general election be refunded or redesignated if that candidate doesn’t run.

“I think it’s really complicated, is the short answer,” Cooksey told NPR on Monday.

“What he’s attempting to do is to give his entire committee, the cash and all the assets, over to another person,” he said. “I think it’s gonna have to go through a process, through the FEC … I expect, there’s probably going to be challenges to that at the agency, and probably in the courts as well.”

GOP-allied campaign finance lawyer Charlie Spies also claimed that both Biden and Harris would have to be nominated by the Democratic Party at next month’s convention before handing off the funds.

“Biden can’t transfer his money to Harris because it