houston – The Republican Party on Friday will officially once again become what it has actually been for eight years: the party of Trump.
At that time, the voters of the Republican National Committee (RNC) assembled in a hastily convened plenary session overwhelmingly voted to approve a key ally of former President Trump and President Trump’s daughter-in-law as a national representative. is expected to vote in favor. Party committee chairman and co-chairman.
The RNC rally has been scheduled in recent weeks and will be held the same week that Trump won 14 of the 15 Republican primaries and caucuses on Super Tuesday, giving him a strong lead in the 2024 Republican Party. We are getting closer to officially confirming the presidential candidate. It also came just two days after President Trump’s last candidate, former United Nations ambassador and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, withdrew from the race.
“He’s the presumptive nominee. He’s going to be our nominee. He’s going to be the guy to beat Joe Biden, and it’s normal for the party’s presumptive nominee to run the RNC.” Henry Barber, a longtime RNC commissioner from Mississippi, told FOX. News the night before the meeting.
Trump campaign withdraws discussion that RNC would be forced to pay former president’s legal costs
Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump speaks at the Super Tuesday election night party at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, March 5, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman and former RNC member Chris Agar, who was also attending the meeting, emphasized that “Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee and this is Trump’s party.”
Ronna McDaniel, the longtime RNC chair whom President Trump chose to take the helm of the national party committee after winning the White House in 2016, will resign at the meeting. Her resignation follows lackluster fundraising last year and opposition to the RNC’s presidential primary debates, and President Trump repeatedly pushed for changes to the committee earlier this year, effectively ousting McDaniel. This was in response to the incident.
Trump meets with McDaniel, then demands changes from RNC
Trump nominated North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley to replace McDaniel. Whatley, the party’s general counsel, is also a Trump ally and strongly supports the former president’s repeated claims that his loss to President Biden in 2020 was due to massive voter fraud.
The former president also selected his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, to co-chair the RNC. She is expected to focus on fundraising for the committee and making media appearances.
Trump also plans to appoint campaign adviser Chris Lacivita to be the RNC’s chief of staff. LaCivita, a longtime Republican strategist and RNC veteran, will continue in his role as one of two top advisers leading Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
“People at the RNC know and like Mike Whatley, so he’s a good choice, and Lara Trump is a trusted advisor to the president, so we’re giving him the tools he needs to get the job done.” Why not? If he believes in those guys, let’s do it. Give him what he needs to win in November,” Agar told Fox News. .
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Trump’s takeover of the RNC is hardly controversial. This is traditional as the presidential election cycle moves from primaries to general elections, leaving the government and the party’s presumptive candidate taking control and consolidating operations.
Barbour said that while there is “always some drama” at RNC meetings, “it’s very important that the party comes together…and the former president guided us in that regard and we came together as a party and the RNC We need to be able to not only win, but also win.” Not just the White House, but the Senate, House, states and localities. ”
The Republican National Committee will gather in Houston on Friday, March 8, 2024, to vote on new leadership recommended by former President Trump. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
But there has been some controversy in recent weeks over concerns that the cash-strapped RNC could be forced to pay for some of President Trump’s massive legal costs.
The former president faces four major criminal trials and a total of 91 indictments, as well as a $355 million civil fraud judgment that Trump is appealing. Political action committees affiliated with the former president have spent nearly $80 million in payments to Trump’s numerous lawyers over the past two years.
The RNC paid some of Trump’s legal costs while he was in the White House and after he left office. But McDaniel said two years ago that the commission would stop paying those bills if Trump became the nominee again.
LaCivita has said in recent days that the RNC will not pay its bills. The Trump campaign told Fox News on Wednesday that the committee would “absolutely not” provide funding to alleviate Trump’s legal costs.
The spokesperson reiterated, “Absolutely no. Absolutely not. We asked the questions and answered them.”
After a slow 2023, RNC begins 2024 with a surge in fundraising
Mr. Barbour recently proposed a nonbinding resolution that would prevent RNC funds from being used for Mr. Trump’s legal costs. However, the resolution failed because Barbour was unable to gain support from RNC members in at least 10 states.
“A small group of us submitted a resolution to the committee that essentially said that the RNC’s first and only job is to win elections. If it’s our job, we need to spend money on that, not on paying anyone’s legal fees,” Barbour told Fox News.
“While we came up short…this was an important conversation, and the Trump campaign has certainly confirmed that it has no plans and will not spend any RNC funds on this matter,” he said. He emphasized.
“We very much appreciate that,” he said.
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