What A Day - Why Democrats Aren't Afraid of GOP Legal Challenges to VP Harris's Candidacy

Episode Date: July 23, 2024

With Vice President Kamala Harris in position to receive the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, Republicans like House Speaker Mike Johnson are raising the possibility of legal challenges to keep a new nominee off the ballot. Experts say these challenges will go nowhere. Republicans have also suggested they will try to block Harris from accessing the 96 million dollars Biden’s campaign raised before he dropped out. But it’s unlikely they’ll succeed there, either. We discuss the details with political reporter Abigail Tracy.And in headlines: lawmakers call for the head of the Secret Service to resign her post, an Israeli airstrike in Gaza kills at least 70 Palestinians, and Delta is still getting back on track after last week’s CrowdStrike outage. Show Notes:Read and Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/bdzcrj7aWhat A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

it's tuesday january 23rd i'm max fisher in for josie duffy rice and i'm treyvel anderson and this is what a day the show where unlike cnn we refuse to explain the political influence of charlie xex's brat yeah if i exploited this one it would become truly lame but make no mistake i am having a brat summer shout Shout out to CharlieXCX, okay? On today's show, the Secret Service Director testifies before Congress about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. Plus, the CrowdStrike outage is still impacting travelers on one airline in particular. But first, as a growing number of prominent Democrats throw their support behind Vice President Kamala Harris to replace President Joe Biden as the party's presidential nominee,

leaders on the right have threatened legal challenges. Here's Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson with CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday morning, shortly before President Biden announced he was dropping out of the race. In some of these states, it's a real hurdle. They have a real problem of replacing the nominee at the top of the ticket. Remember, Jake, I mean, Joe Biden was chosen after a long, small-D democratic process by 14 million people emerging through that primary. It'll be very interesting to see if the so-called party of democracy, the Democrats, go into a back room somewhere and switch it out and put someone else at the top of the ticket. I mean, I think they've got legal hurdles in some of these states.

We should just note this idea that there is any impediment to the Democratic Party selecting Kamala Harris or any other name for the top of the ticket in November is bullshit. Anyway, Speaker Johnson made this comment before Vice President Harris became the likely candidate. We've had some time to let the news settle in. Are there any other potential legal challenges? Well, the GOP could also create some legal hurdles to try and prevent Vice President Harris from accessing the $96 million that the Biden-Harris campaign raised before President Biden left the race. For more on all of these legal questions, the real ones and the not so real ones, I spoke with political reporter Abigail Tracy. She's a contributor to the Weatherday newsletter,

and she started off by walking me through the potential legal challenges that Speaker Johnson discussed on Sunday. It was almost as if he was leaving some breadcrumbs for what we might be able to see from the Republican Party now that Biden stepped aside and obviously he threw his endorsement behind Kamala Harris. So what you saw from Mike Johnson is him kind of hinting at this idea that Republicans or attorneys general in Republican-led states would bring lawsuits against Democrats, the Democratic Party specifically, around this idea of if it's not Joe Biden on the ballot in certain states, again, particularly likely Republican states, red states.

But the reality is, is what we did at What A Day is we spoke with a number of experts kind of following that threat and obviously following Biden's decision to officially drop out from the race. And really what they said is basically, no, it is based on a really, a really false premise. Because at the end of the day, Joe Biden was never actually the party's nominee. He was the presumptive nominee, obviously up until a couple weeks ago, you know, before his debate performance, people really assumed that he was going to be the Democratic nominee for president. So the reality is we didn't have a nominee then before Biden dropped out of the race. And we really don't have a nominee now until the convention goes through this process.

One of the things when you're looking at what is really happening in a primary, sure, voters are making their choices and their feelings known. But ultimately, what they're really doing is selecting delegates to go to the convention to actually vote on the nominee. Right. And now, even though most of the legal experts we at least spoke to don't see any substance here, is there a world where all of these conservative judges could help the GOP if they do indeed attempt to file these lawsuits? It's really hard to say. I think one of the caveats of this moment really is that this is entirely and completely unprecedented in terms of, you know, what we're seeing from a presumptive nominee kind of changing so late in the race. That's very unusual. One of the key things to keep in mind when we're talking about this, the real issue, it kind of comes down to who's on the ballot in specific

states. So there are deadlines around at what time the party needs to communicate who the nominee is to certain states so that they can actually put the names on the ballot. That's kind of the timing that we're dealing with. That's really the issue around when a nominee is officially selected. And so you could potentially see if there were issues around the communication from the DNC to states around getting a name on the ballot, but really Democrats have time. We haven't come up to that moment at all. So the idea that there could be legal challenges is really just a Republican pipe dream at this point. To your point around conservative judges, I will also say the caveat that we don't know what they might do. Obviously, we've seen a

lot of crazy things and precedent. And there is a lot of precedent around ballots and names on ballots and things of that nature. So there is a lot of precedent. That's what legal experts told me. Yeah, there's also a question potentially around the $96 million that the Biden-Harris campaign, right, has raised prior to Biden dropping out. Could there be legal challenges preventing Vice President Harris from accessing those funds as she charts her campaign forward? Yeah, so honestly, when I was speaking with legal experts, that's really the area where they said there are more potential pitfalls for Democrats and more red flags sort of around that money, because officially that money was raised by Biden for president.

Harris's name wasn't on it. But what we did see was Sunday night, very shortly after Joe Biden announced that he was dropping out of the race and endorsed Kamala Harris. What you saw was they filed with the FEC to change that name from Biden for president to Harris for president. So you really quickly saw her trying to get her name so that those funds went directly to her because that was one of the real issues. And really when I've been talking to Democrats and when I've been talking to legal experts and campaign finance experts, they always said that him tapping Kamala Harris and her stepping up as the Democratic Party nominee was probably going to be the most straightforward path for the party and the cleanest because of that. The majority of experts out there really believe that she has access to those funds and should be able to access them

immediately. Of course, folks I spoke with did note that there is a small subset of Republican or conservative lawyers that are already starting to kind of clamor about it, just given that that money was technically for Biden. That's the argument that they're making was it was just for Joe Biden. It wasn't for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris or Kamala Harris by herself. So that's one of the things. But really, when you're looking at this question of the $96 million, it is very clearly like the most straightforward path to just give it to VP Harris at this point, because the other options that the party really would have with that money is one, the money could have been transferred to a super PAC, but when it's transferred to a super PAC, there's going to

be different stipulations and different rules around it. First being you can't coordinate directly with the candidate and super PACs really could do whatever they want with the money. That's kind of like super PACs thing. So you'd have that. The other one would be you transfer the money directly to the party. There'll be different rules around how that could be handled. But again, the party then could use that money not necessarily toward a presidential campaign. They could look at down ballot races. They could shift it toward congressional or Senate races. So that would be another question. And then the third real option that I spoke with people about was if you give the money back to donors and then say, hey, please re-donate that money to our different campaign, our rebranded campaign, which obviously is

a little risky that you're actually going to reap that money back. Those are kind of the options. But really, people think that there likely will be legal challenges. But people believe that she has a right to that money. She was out there raising it with Biden for Biden Harris. And that's kind of the cleanest move for the Democratic Party at this point is if she wins the nomination, it's kind of the easiest path forward. That was my conversation with political reporter Abigail Tracy. And that's the latest for now. We'll get to some headlines in a moment. But

if you like our show, make sure to subscribe and share with your friends. Let's get to some headlines. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle called on the head of the Secret Service to resign her post during a tense hearing Monday over the assassination attempt against former President Trump. During testimony in front of the House Oversight Committee, Director Kimberly Cheadle admitted that the shooting was a, quote, colossal failure. But she repeatedly refused to offer any specifics about the investigation into how it happened. Here's an exchange between Cheadle and South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace. Has the Secret Service provided this committee a complete list of all law enforcement personnel that were there that day? Have you done that? Have you provided a list to the Oversight Committee? Yes or no? I'll have to get back to you on that.

That is a no. Have you provided all audio and video recordings in your possession to this committee, as we asked on July 15th? Yes or no? I would have to get back to you on that. That is a no. You're full of shit today. After the hearing, the leaders of the House Committee, Republican James Comer of Kentucky and Democrat Jamie Raskin of Maryland issued a joint letter calling for Cheadle to step down. They wrote, quote, in the middle of a presidential election, the committee and the American public demand serious institutional accountability and transparency that you are not

providing. On Saturday, the Secret Service acknowledged that it had rejected multiple requests from Trump's security team for additional resources in recent years, though Cheadle insisted during the hearing that all the security requested by Trump's team the day of the shooting had been granted. An Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza killed at least 70 Palestinians and wounded more than 200 others on Monday, according to Palestinian officials. On Monday, the Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, ordered the immediate evacuation of some residents in the Han Yunis region, a region that was previously designated as a safe zone. The IDF claimed that its attacks on Han Yunis were in response to a rocket that was launched toward Israel. Roughly 400,000

Palestinians are sheltering in the areas that received evacuation orders. Gaza's health ministry said that Israel's assault has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians in Gaza in total. Also on Monday, Israeli intelligence officials said that two more Israeli hostages are, quote, no longer alive. Delta Airlines was still canceling and delaying hundreds of flights Monday, even after most of its competitors had recovered from last week's tech outage. As of 9 p.m. Eastern on Monday, the company had canceled about 1,000 flights, 25% of its flights that day, and delayed 1,600 or more, according to the website FlightAware. The disruptions began last Friday when an update to cybersecurity software

overseen by the company CrowdStrike crashed millions of computers worldwide. Many airlines were affected, but only Delta reported problems with its crew tracking software. CNN has suggested that may be one reason the company had to cancel more flights than other airlines and that the company's problems have persisted. Long-serving Texas Representative Sheila Jackson Lee passed away at age 74 last Friday after spending three decades advocating for progressive causes on Capitol Hill. The cause of death was pancreatic cancer. In 2021, Lee authored the legislation that established Juneteenth as a federal holiday. She led the fight to pass the Violence Against Women Act in 2018. And over her long career, she consistently spoke up for women in minority communities. In a statement, Maryland Representative Kwaise Nfume said of Lee, quote,

She worked so hard for what she believed in and made all of us around her work just as hard. I will miss my buddy who refused to let the world silence her voice. Travelle, you know, I miss her too. They don't make them like her anymore. Absolutely. They also don't make hairstyles like hers anymore. Shout out to the braided into the bun situation. Okay. She was representing for all of our natural girlies out there long before it became popular. Okay. So shout out to Representative Sheila Jackson Lee. And those are the headlines. One more thing before we go.

Looks like 13 is your lucky number, Los Angeles. 13 new Love It or Leave It shows live in L.A. just dropped from September through December. Each week, host John Lovett is joined live on stage by killer comedians, politicians, and queers to help break down the latest in politics and culture. Come see Lovett or Leave It live on stage every Thursday, where you will laugh and most likely cry together. Grab your tickets now at crooked.com slash events. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, ask Delta if they've tried unplugging their system,

then plugging it back in again, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just transcripts of bitchy house oversight committee hearings like me, well, today's also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Treve Val Anderson. I'm Max Fisher, in for Josie Duffy Rice. And fix the planes, Mayor Pete. I want him under the hood.

I want him out there with the ranch himself, okay? Make it everything work. Absolutely. Grease stains. Yes, that's right. I believe he can roll up those sleeves. It's time. It's time, okay? What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance.

Our associate producer is Raven Yamamoto. We had production help today from Leo Duran, Michelle Aloy, Ethan Olbermann, Greg Walters, and Julia Clare. Our showrunner is Erica Morrison, and our executive producer is Adrian Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gillyard and Kashaka.