houston – The Republican Party is once again at the complete mercy of former President Donald Trump.
Trump ally and North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley and daughter-in-law Lara Trump, chosen by the former president to chair and co-chair the Republican National Committee (RNC), voted by voice on Friday. It was unanimously approved by the RNC. We held our recently scheduled general meeting.
“The RNC will continue to work closely with President Trump over the next eight months,” Whatley declared in his acceptance speech.
And Lara Trump spoke minutes later, emphasizing, “We have one goal. Our goal on November 5th is to win. And as my father-in-law said, it’s big.”
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Donald Trump speaks with David Bossie (left), a longtime member of the Republican National Committee from Maryland, ahead of his unanimous selection as RNC co-chairman on March 8 in Houston, Texas. The president’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump (center). 2024 (FOX News Paul Steinhausere)
Whatley, a former RNC general counsel, selected him to take the helm of the national party committee after President Trump won the White House in 2016, replacing longtime chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. . Friday’s resignation came after Trump repeatedly urged reform of the commission earlier this year. McDaniel was effectively kicked out after last year’s lackluster fundraising efforts and opposition to the RNC’s presidential primary debates.
“The state of our party is strong,” McDaniel declared in his farewell speech.
And McDaniel noted that the RNC’s fundraising rebounded in January and February, calling it “the best two months of fundraising the RNC has ever had when they weren’t occupying the White House.” It was advertised.
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Fundraising will be a major focus going forward as the Trump campaign and RNC aim to compete with the rival Democratic National Committee and President Biden’s campaign, but will continue existing RNC programs focused on election integrity. Strengthening it will also be a top priority.
“Everyone in this room, and every voter across the country, knows that we must protect the sanctity of our votes,” said Whatley, who lost the 2020 election to Biden. has strongly supported Trump’s unproven claims that massive voter fraud was to blame.
Longtime Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel (left) speaks before resigning. North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley (right) succeeded McDaniel as RNC chairman on March 9, 2024, at the party’s convention in Houston, Texas. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
“We worked closely with Chairman McDaniel to build an election integrity program from the ground up,” Whatley said, adding, “We will continue to work harder.”
President Trump also appointed campaign adviser Chris Lacivita as RNC 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.
“The RNC today. It’s not going to be the same next week. Obviously there will be changes,” Lacivita told reporters ahead of the rally. However, he did not go into details.
The RNC rally came the same week that Trump won 14 of 15 Republican primaries and caucuses on Super Tuesday, bringing him much closer to officially confirming the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. . 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.
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald 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)
“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 committee member from Mississippi, told Fox News on the eve of the meeting.
Chris Agar, chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party and former RNC committee member who attended the meeting, emphasized that “Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee and this is Trump’s party.”
“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.” If he believes in those guys, let’s do it. Give him what he needs to win in November,” Agar told FOX ahead of the meeting. told the news.
Trump’s takeover of the RNC is hardly controversial. Traditionally, as the presidential election cycle moves from primaries to general elections, the presumptive candidate of the out-of-power party takes the lead and consolidates operations.
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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. ”
Newly elected RNC Chair Michael Whatley and co-chair Lara Trump take the stage during the RNC Spring Meeting in Houston, Texas on March 8, 2024. (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 the bill. 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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