The Republican National Committee (RNC) is considering a resolution that would prevent the organization from paying the legal fees for former President Donald Trump. The news came amid both a large judgment against Trump in two civil cases and his endorsement of new leadership at the organization, including his daughter-in-law Lara Trump.
RNC Committee member Henry Barbour proposed two resolutions: one of which would bar campaign money going to Trump’s legal expenditures and another calling for the RNC to be neutral during the ongoing primary.
According to Barbour’s resolution, the organization “will not pay the legal bills of any of our candidates for any federal or state office, but will focus our spending on efforts directly related to the 2024 election cycle.”
Trump campaign rips draft RNC resolutions to contain him, not pay his legal bills https://t.co/nwA6pjV5iQ via @nypost
— Bo Snerdley (@BoSnerdley) February 25, 2024
Trump campaign co-manager and candidate for RNC Chair Chris LaCivita said that the proposals were “absurd.” However, LaCivita also said that the RNC would not use its money for Trump’s legal expenditures.
The proposed resolution would contradict recent statements by Lara Trump that if she was named vice chair of the organization, the RNC would use its resources to support Trump as its top goal.
The former president’s daughter-in-law said that “every single penny” raised by the RNC would go to support Trump.
She vowed to make the organization the “leanest, most lethal political fighting machine we’ve ever seen in American history.” She also said that the RNC would not waste any money and that the “number one and the only job of the RNC” was to elect Trump as president in November “and saving this country.”
The RNC considered but ultimately rejected a plan to declare Trump the presumptive Republican nominee earlier this year.
Furthermore, the RNC has received considerable criticism for the GOP’s performance in the last several election cycles. Despite a number of Republican wins, several candidates performed worse than expected, with the RNC’s leadership taking much of the blame.
Current RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel reportedly promised to step down from the position after the South Carolina primary. She had been personally endorsed by Trump for the position.
