A crop of senior GOP officials fear that Donald Trump's effort to pack the Republican National Committee with his preferred picks could give way to the former president using the RNC to cover his legal bills — again. Their worries come on the heels of Trump's endorsements earlier this week of his daughter-in-law, among other allies, to assume leadership roles at the committee. "While those endorsements have been well-received by many committee members — who note that it is customary for a presidential candidate to put his imprint on the party’s main campaign apparatus — others fear a potential misallocation of party resources," Politico reports.
Henry Barbour, a Mississippi committee member, told the outlet that he thinks “most RNC members will go along” with Trump's committee lineup "unless there is a play to use RNC funds for President Trump’s legal bills.” Another member who has been critical of the former president, Oscar Brock, told Politico that the RNC's recently passed budget did not allot any money for Trump's legal fees. Brock did recognize, however, the potential for the committee to reconfigure its financial plan to do so upon request, which the Tennessee committeeman said he'd be against. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for the committee to pay the legal bills for things done outside the work of the committee,” Brock told Politico.
Chris LaCivita, a senior Trump campaign strategist, called the concerns about the committee paying Trump's legal fees "manufactured." Instead, the money would come from other avenues, including Trump's Save America PAC and his own pocket, senior campaign advisors told Politico. In 2021 and 2022, the RNC forked over nearly $2 million to two legal firms working on the former president's cases but stopped once Trump launched his current presidential campaign. It will still have a legal fund intended to handle lawsuits, recount efforts and typical legal business for the party.
Lara Trump this week vowed that "every penny" at the RNC would go toward helping Trump.
Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Trump is on pace to drain his war chest for his legal fees this summer after already spending more than $50 million on legal bills.
"Trump is out of money which is why he is going hard at Ronna Romney so he can take over the RNC treasury," tweeted former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci.
