After Trump Allies Take Over RNC, Resolution To Ban Paying Ex-President’s Legal Bills Is ‘Dead’

Last week, allies of former President Donald Trump officially took over the Republican National Committee (RNC).

Short thereafter, a resolution to ban Trump’s spiraling legal bills was abandoned as a lost cause.

Mississippi’s national committeeman Henry Barbour, son of former RNC Chairman Haley Barbour, confirmed that the resolution that he had drafted is “dead.”

Barbour said he only received co-sponsors from eight out of the ten necessary states to bring the resolution to a vote.

In February, Trump officially endorsed GOP North Carolina Chair Michael Whatley as his preferred successor to lead the committee. 

The former president also endorsed Lara Trump, his daughter-in-law, for the position of RNC co-chair. This sparked accusations of nepotism from critics inside and outside of the group.

His chief primary opponent, Nikki Haley, commented on this move, saying there are no “kings in this country.”

Republican critics stated that the move was Trump’s attempt to merge the RNC with his campaign, raising the question of whether it would pay his legal bills.

“If I am elected to this position, I can assure you, there will not be any more $70,000 — or whatever exorbitant amount of money it was — spent on flowers,” Lara Trump told Newsmax. “Every single penny will go to the No. 1 and the only job of the RNC — that is elected Donald J. Trump as president of the United States and saving this country.”

Two days after Haley dropped out of the presidential race, the RNC used its spring meeting in Houston, Texas to install a new leadership team hand-picked by Trump.

The RNC’s membership unanimously chose North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley to serve as their committee’s new chairman, and Lara Trump to serve as the co-chair.

Whatley, who served as the RNC’s general counsel, replaced Ronna McDaniel.

She was Trump’s hand-picked party chair after he won the presidency in 2016.

However, McDaniel was attacked by Trump loyalists after the GOP had other underwhelming elections in 2018, 2020 and 2022. 

McDaniel gave long farewell remarks, thanked her family, and listed the accomplishments she made in her seven years as party chair.

“We grew our email list from 3 million to 50 million subscribers,” she stated. “We finally launched a small dollar fundraising platform … we were getting trounced by Democrats over and over again.”

“Not every candidate made it to their destination,” she added. “We can’t put our head in the sand and ignore abortion and the Dobbs decision … The RNC was leading, asking candidates to talk about this issue.”

McDaniel agreed to resign after Trump officially endorsed Whatley.

The election occurred after a short-lived private leadership competition between Whatley and South Carolina GOP Chairman Drew McKissick, who, in the end, did not run for the RNC’s chair after Trump endorsed his opponent. 

“Our country and indeed the entire world can’t take four more years of Joe Biden and Democratic control,” the RNC Chairman stated during his acceptance speech. “In less than eight months we will determine not only the fate of the US but the rest of the word.”

With new leadership and Trump allies solidly in control, the RNC needs to raise money. 

President Joe Biden and various affiliated Democratic committees have $130 million cash on hand, compared to $65 million for Trump and his affiliated committees.

“We have to raise a lot of money,” Lara mentioned during her acceptance speech while holding up a check she said was a $100,000 donation she secured at the spring meetings.

An argument over what to do with the RNC’s cash has divided some party members. A growing number of Trump’s supporters urged the committee to spend its resources on his legal bills.

Whatley did not specifically say during his acceptance speech if he supports using RNC funds for Trump’s legal bills.

“If a proposal or request comes to us that is not focused on winning in November, it will not be considered,” he declared.

Back in February, Haley issued a warning, saying that Trump could use the RNC as a “piggy bank” to pay for his legal fees.

The former U.N. ambassador worried aloud that if the RNC focused on paying these expenses, then it would stop focusing on funding House and Senate elections for the Republican party.

Haley mentioned that Trump spent “$50 million worth of campaign contributions towards his personal court cases.”