Donald Trump strengthened his grip on the Republican National Committee (RNC) on Friday after his daughter-in-law and another ally took leadership positions, amid a debate among members over whether the organization should help the former president pay his bills. imposed by the court, Reuters and News.ro report.

RNC members at a meeting in Houston voted to appoint North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Michael Watley and Lara Trump as chair and co-chair of the organization, who will play a key role in mobilizing voters and funds for the election. general from November 5.

The move comes after Trump won the Super Tuesday primary, prompting Nikki Haley to drop out of the GOP race and all but securing her status as the Republican nominee to face President Joe Biden, a Democrat, in November.

“The goal on November 5th is to win, and as my father-in-law says, ‘in style,'” Lara Trump said, pledging that “every cent of every dollar raised” will go to winning the White House. , the House of Representatives and the Senate from Republicans.

After personnel reshuffles, the head of the organization was replaced by Ronna McDaniel. McDaniel has faced criticism over the party’s fundraising and election results. During his time in office, Trump was defeated in 2020 and the party performed worse than expected in the 2022 midterm elections.

Some RNC members have asked the committee to help pay for Trump’s legal costs, which, along with fines, have reached hundreds of millions of dollars. Neither Watley nor Lara Trump directly addressed the issue on Friday.

Trump’s decision to make the wife of his youngest adult son, Eric, the party’s second in command, symbolizes his takeover of a political establishment whose mission is to get Republicans elected across all parties. Not since President Ronald Reagan’s daughter Maureen Reagan served as RNC co-chair in the 1980s has a family member of a president or candidate held such a powerful position.

One of the most urgent tasks of the new leadership will be related to money. After its worst fundraising year in 2023 in a decade, the RNC had less than $9 million in its accounts at the end of January, just over a third of rival Democratic National Committee’s $24 million, according to federal filings. party

“We need to raise a lot of money,” Lara Trump said, showing off a $100,000 check she said was donated Friday.

As her father-in-law often did in his speeches, she described the upcoming elections in moralistic terms. “It’s not just anti-right versus left, Republican versus Democrat,” she said. “It’s about good versus evil,” said Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law.

Trump’s legal bills

Last month, Lara Trump caused a stir when she said she believed Republicans would be “very interested” in paying the former president’s legal bills and wouldn’t rule out using RNC funds for that purpose.

Trump’s legal costs are expected to rise this year as he faces 91 criminal charges in four cases and faces more than $500 million in damages related to three New York civil lawsuits.

Henry Barbour, an RNC member from Mississippi, drafted a resolution ahead of this week’s meeting that would have barred the committee from considering Trump’s legal bills, arguing that all the money should go to winning the election. Barbour warns that the prospect of Trump going to the RNC with legal bills is spooking donors. “Rich people don’t want to pay other rich people’s bills,” he said.

But Barbour’s resolution did not garner enough support, and one of Trump’s campaign managers, Chris LaCivita, who is expected to join the RNC as chief operating officer, said the Committee’s funds would not be used for legal expenses.

Solomon Yue, an Oregon RNC committeeman, said, however, that he has spoken with about 20 members who agree with him that the organization should foot the bill for Trump’s legal troubles.

Yue said he believes the Biden administration has “weaponized” the Justice Department to undermine the Trump campaign. Biden denies any involvement in criminal cases, and no evidence has emerged to support Yue’s claim.

Two RNC donors who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said they planned to wait to see the impact of the leadership changes before contributing. Both expressed concern that their money would go toward paying legal bills. “They called me to resume the donation. I told them: until I know how the situation will be resolved, I will not write a check,” said one of the donors.