Can Harris — or any other Democrat — access Biden campaign money?
From NPR:
Now that President Biden has dropped out of the presidential race, and Vice President Harris has taken over as the presumptive Democratic nominee, questions have arisen over whether, and how, Harris can take over the Biden campaign’s war chest. The Harris team maintains that because her name was always listed as one of the candidates on the campaign, she has full access to the funds, and many campaign finance experts seem to agree. Some experts disagree, however, and the Trump campaign has filed a complaint with the FEC, alleging that Harris does not have the right to use the campaign money. Ultimately, however, the point may be moot: the FEC is so backlogged and slow to respond to complaints that it will almost certainly not be resolved until after November — it still has outstanding complaints from 2016. (Click here to read our statement about the importance of transparency by the Biden/Harris campaign.)
Trump donated to Kamala Harris’ campaign when she was California attorney general
From CBS:
Donation records have surfaced of donations Donald Trump made to then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris in 2011 and 2013, for a total of $6,000 (the Harris campaign claims to have donated those funds to a nonprofit in 2015). At the time, Trump was known to make donations to politicians in both parties, having made $1.8 million in political donations from 1998 to 2015. In 2016, he defended his record of political giving by saying that it was his job as a businessman to “contribute to everybody.”
Sen. Bob Menendez to resign next month following conviction in federal corruption trial
From ABC News:
Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), will resign from the Senate on August 20th, following his conviction on federal charges including bribery, fraud, acting as a foreign agent and obstruction. Menendez accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes, sometimes in the form of literal gold bars, in exchange for using his office to help several Egyptian businessmen and promote the government of Qatar. Menendez was uniquely valuable to foreign interests as the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was not required to resign following his conviction, but a majority of Democrats had called for him to do so following his original indictment, and he faced potential expulsion from the Senate if he did not.
‘Haley Voters for Harris’ pledge to fight on after Nikki Haley says cease and desist
From NPR:
Nikki Haley has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the PAC Haley Voters for Harris (Formerly Haley Voters for Biden), demanding that they stop using her name in their support for Vice President Harris. The PAC, which is officially known as PIVOTPAC, claims that they are not speaking on behalf of Haley, merely promoting the views of her former supporters. The group has raised nearly $400,000 in the past year, mostly from anti-Trump groups, and began running ads the day Haley dropped out of the Republican presidential primary.
Crypto leaders spend big on Arizona Democratic primary
From The Hill:
Protect Progress, a Super PAC funded by crypto interests, has spent more than $1 million on ads supporting Phoenix Councilwoman Yassamin Ansari in Arizona’s 3rd congressional district Democratic primary. Ansari has also received over $200,000 from Republican donors. Supporters of former state Senator Raquel Terán, another candidate in the race, have decried the PAC’s spending as an attempt by out-of-state millionaires and billionaires to buy the election for their own benefit.
