Trump maintains control over US Republican Party as daughter-in-law assumes prominent role

Donald Trump’s grip on the Republican National Committee was further solidified on Friday as his daughter-in-law and another friend got top positions. Some members are arguing over whether the organization should help pay Trump’s legal bills.

Members of the RNC met in Houston and decided to make Michael Whatley and Lara Trump the leaders of the organization. They will be responsible for getting voters and money for the November election. 5 big election.

The move happened after Trump won most of the Super Tuesday primary contests. This made Nikki Haley quit the Republican race. It almost guarantees that Trump will be the next U.S president to be chosen and will compete against President Joe Biden, who is a Democrat.

“On November 5th, our aim is to win big, as my father-in-law says. Every dollar we raise will be used to help Republicans win the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate. ” Lara Trump stated.

Ronna McDaniel is no longer the leader of the organization. McDaniel was criticized for not raising enough money and for doing poorly in the elections. While Trump was in charge, he lost the 2020 election, and the party didn’t do as well as expected in the 2022 midterm elections.

Some RNC members want the committee to help pay for Trump’s legal bills, which have grown to hundreds of millions of dollars with penalties. Neither Whatley nor Lara Trump talked about the issue on Friday. Trump wants his son Eric’s wife to be the second most important person in a political organization that helps Republicans get elected at all levels. This shows that Trump is taking control of the organization. No one in a president’s family has had as much power in the Republican Party since Reagan’s daughter in the 1980s.

One of the main things the new leader needs to focus on will be getting the money. In 2023, the RNC made less money than usual and had less than $9 million in the bank by the end of January. The Democratic National Committee had $24 million in comparison.

“We need to collect a large amount of money,” Lara Trump said, holding up a check for $100,000 that was donated on Friday.

Similar to how her father-in-law often speaks, she described the upcoming election using moral values.

“This is not just about political sides, like the Republicans or Democrats,” she said. “It’s about the battle between good and bad. ”

Trump’s expenses for lawyers.

Lara Trump caused a commotion last month when she said she thinks Republicans should pay for the former president’s legal bills and didn’t say no to using RNC money.

Trump will have to pay a lot of money for lawyers this year because he has 91 criminal charges in four cases and owes more than $500 million for three civil court cases in New York.

Henry Barbour, a member of the RNC from Mississippi, wrote a proposal before the meeting this week. He wanted to stop the committee from paying for Trump’s legal fees. He said all the money should be used to win the election.

Barbour said that donors were scared of Trump using RNC money to pay for his legal bills. “Wealthy people don’t want to cover expenses for other wealthy people,” he said.

Barbour’s plan did not get enough support, and Trump’s campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita, who is expected to join the RNC as chief operating officer, has said that money from the committee will not be used to pay for legal expenses.

Solomon Yue, a member of the Republican National Committee from Oregon, said that he has talked to about 20 other members who also think that the organization should pay for Trump’s legal problems.

Yue said he thinks the Biden administration is using the Justice Department to sabotage Trump’s campaign. Biden says he didn’t do anything wrong in the criminal cases and there’s no proof to support Yue’s claim.

Two Republican donors who talked to Reuters without giving their names said they wanted to wait and see how the new leaders would affect things before giving money. Both were worried about their money being used to pay for lawyers.

“They asked me to donate again.” “I won’t write a check until I know what’s going to happen,” said one of the donors.