Those who support Ron DeSantis are planning to move $86 million from his Florida state gubernatorial campaign to support his potential race for president, but a watchdog is questioning the legality of the move, according to a report.
DeSantis has yet to declare his run for the presidency, but he has positioned himself to run against Trump, who has in turn made DeSantis a frequent target of Trump's attacks, in person and on social media. In what appears to be the next step to make his candidacy official, those close to DeSantis are planning to transfer millions of dollars from the state political committee that helped him win his governor race, CNBC reports.
"[I]f DeSantis decides to run for president — as he is widely expected to do in the coming weeks — he is legally barred from dumping that war chest into his federal campaign coffer. That’s because federal law bans the transfer of state-level political funds to a national election," the article states. "Instead, the governor’s allies could try to transfer them to a pro-DeSantis federal super PAC, which is required to remain independent of his potential presidential bid. The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the situation, has reported that those plans are underway."
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CNBC further reports that the nonprofit government watchdog Campaign Legal Center argues that the transfer, even to a federal super PAC, is illegal. The group reportedly acknowledges that the Federal Election Commission "has not had the teeth to enforce in this area."
The group has reportedly made a similar report about a separate political campaign in the past, but its effort was brushed off by the FEC in part because it was unpersuaded that the politician in question controlled the state group’s moves after he resigned.
The DeSantis transfer, on the other hand, is much larger in its amount. And the state committee’s website listed DeSantis as its “associated person" as recently as last month, CNBC reports.
