Joe Biden’s allies were skeptical that Kamala Harris was “ready” for the national spotlight during her 2016 U.S. Senate campaign but were apparently happy to hand over donor lists and even offer her a seat on the Beau Biden Foundation board after her group offered them a $1,000 contribution, emails on first son Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop show.
Had it been completed, the complicated transaction would have violated the foundation’s tax-exempt status and could have violated federal election law, experts told The Post this week.
Allies of Harris, then California’s attorney general, reached out to Josh Alcorn, Beau Biden’s top political and fundraising adviser, with an unusual request in late 2015, months after the former Delaware attorney general died of brain cancer.
Joe Biden’s allies handed over donor lists and even offered Kamala Harris a seat on the Beau Biden Foundation board after her team offered them a $1,000 contribution, emails on first son Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop show. KeynoteUSA
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“Just so you know: you were contacted by the Kamala Harris campaign. They want to pay us about $1,000 for access to the email list,” Alcorn wrote on Twitter. an email from December 30th to Hunter and Hallie Biden, Beau’s widow.
“The money would go to the[Beau Biden]campaign and then be transferred to the foundation,” explained Alcorn, who headed the Beau Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children from January 2016 to June 2021, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“It sounds like a good idea and we would find a way to get some names and emails from her once the general election is over,” he added. “This is not a foundation issue, but a campaign closing issue. If any of you have any objections, please let me know.”
In January 12, 2016, Less than two weeks after that exchange, Alcorn proposed Harris as an additional addition to the foundation’s board of directors.
Allies of Harris, then California’s attorney general, reached out to Josh Alcorn, Beau Biden’s top political and fundraising adviser, with the unusual request in late 2015, after the former Delaware attorney general died of brain cancer. joshalcorn/Twitter
The email exchange ended with Alcorn informing Hunter Biden that he would “try to schedule the call with Attorney General Harris.”
Three former members of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) told The Post that exchanges of donor lists are common and legal between campaigns, as long as each pays a fair market rate.
But funneling Harris’s payment to the foundation in exchange for the donor list, after the Biden family made clear months earlier that Beau’s campaign funds would be donated to the foundation —It would have been a different matter.
“Charities should not engage in transactions with partisan campaign committees,” said Michael Toner, who served as FEC chairman in 2006 and as commissioner from 2002 to 2007.
The email exchange ended with Alcorn informing Hunter Biden that he would “try to schedule the call with Attorney General Harris.”
“If … the foundation had used that donor list and raised $100,000 and now they’re donating that donor list to the Kamala Harris campaign” for $1,000, explained former FEC Commissioner Hans von Spakovsky, who served from 2006 to 2007, “they’ve far exceeded the amount of money that can be contributed.”
“They are not charging fair market value and that is the way the FEC views these types of things,” he added, noting that there are currently a cap of $2,000 on the amount that campaigns can contribute to other campaigns.
“The fair market value of Campaign A’s list, which is given to Campaign B, is $1,000. That’s fine because it’s still within the $2,000 limit,” von Spakovsky continued. “But let’s say the value of Campaign B’s donor list is $4,000. They’ve simply swapped the lists. This was an unequal exchange, resulting in Campaign B making a $3,000 contribution to Campaign A, which is illegal because it violates the $2,000 contribution limit.”
If the list of donors came from the foundation itself, he said, that would also amount to “an illegal corporate contribution.”
If the donor list came from the foundation itself, von Spakovsky said, that would also amount to “an illegal corporate contribution.” Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Beau Biden Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) corporation, received just over $535,000 in contributions, gifts and grants during its first year of operation in 2016, according to its Form 990 Tax Returns with the IRS.
The documents also show that the foundation checked “No” when asked: “Did the organization engage in direct or indirect political campaign activities for or in opposition to candidates for public office?”
Making such contributions in exchange for appointments — such as a board seat — could also “raise more direct bribery questions,” according to Bradley Smith, the FEC chairman in 2004 who also served as commissioner from 2000 to 2005.
“They’re not charging fair market value and that’s how the FEC looks at these kinds of things,” former FEC Commissioner Hans von Spakovsky told The Post. CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Harris never accepted the position on the foundation’s board, a role that carries no compensation, her tax returns show.
It’s also unclear whether Harris’ campaign funneled any contributions to Beau Biden’s now-defunct campaign fundraising committee, his PAC or another entity such as the Draft Biden super PAC, which Alcorn also headed.
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Joe Biden announced in October 2015 that he would not seek the Democratic nomination, clearing the party’s “establishment lane” for Hillary Clinton, who lost to Donald Trump in the November 2016 general election.
According to FEC filings, the Draft Biden political action committee closed in April 2016. Beau’s committee, Biden for Delaware, and the Beau political action committee closed in late 2015.
The Post reviewed FEC filings from both Harris’ 2016 campaign and the Draft Biden super PAC, as well as state campaign committees associated with Beau Biden, but could not find a direct transaction by the future California senator with a Biden fundraising campaign.
Other emails on Hunter’s laptop reveal a long-term effort to bring Harris into the Bidens’ orbit in Delaware, even as allies said she wouldn’t be a “great fit” for a vice presidential bid. Josh Morgan, Josh Morgan/KeynoteUSA NETWORK
However, Harris’s PAC donated $1,000 to NGP Van Inc. for “database services” on Jan. 5, 2016, six days after Alcorn wrote the first email about the proposed exchange. NGP Van is a major fundraising platform for the Democratic campaign and donor research.
Other emails on Hunter’s laptop reveal a long-term effort to bring Harris into the Biden orbit, even as allies warned she would not be a “great choice” to run if Joe jumped into the 2016 campaign.
“There are no great options,” reflected former Biden press secretary Alexander Mackler in An email from August 6, 2015 Hunter and Biden family business partner Eric Schwerin about potential running mates.
“It almost has to be a woman,” added Mackler, who served as a deputy adviser to Biden during his vice presidency and on Beau’s re-election campaign for state attorney general in 2010. “It can’t be Kamala (she has a campaign and fails the ‘readiness’ test).”
“If Kamala says no, I suggest Patrick Lynch or Jack Conaway,” Mackler suggested. an email from January 22ndapparently referring to the former Rhode Island attorney general and Delaware county administrator in Sussex County who is close to the Biden family.
Other notable names suggested for foundation board positions include former Education Secretary Arne Duncan, retired Delaware Adjutant and Army National Guard Gen. Francis Vavala, former Arkansas Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln, Jackie Dodd, the wife of former Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd, and KeynoteUSA “Today” show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie.
KeynoteUSA anchor Jake Tapper was also proposed as “another media person, potentially.”
The Harris campaign, the Beau Biden Foundation and Alcorn did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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