There are several senior officials within the Republican Party who are concerned that former President Donald Trump may once again use the Republican National Committee to pay for his legal bills.
Politico published a report this week that said the fears come after Trump recently endorsed three officials for top roles at the committee, including his daughter-in-law.
It’s not uncommon for the leading presidential candidate to have a lot of influence over the main campaign apparatus of the party — and many current RNC members have received Trump’s endorsements well.
However, there are some within the GOP who are fearful that the committee could ultimately misallocate resources under Trump’s rule.
One committeeman from Mississippi, Henry Barbour, said recently that he thought “most RNC members will go along” with what Trump outlines as his vision for them, “unless there is a play to use RNC funds for President Trump’s legal bills.”
The RNC passed its budget during meetings in Las Vegas two weeks ago, according to committee member Oscar Brock, and there wasn’t any money included to cover legal fees for Trump.
That being said, Brock also acknowledged that it was possible for the RNC to amend that financial plan to make accommodations for Trump should he request that they do so. That’s now something that Brock said he would be able to get behind, adding:
“I don’t think it’s appropriate for the committee to pay the legal bills for things done outside the work of the committee.”
Trump loyalists tried to calm fears of this happening, with one of the senior advisers to his campaign, Chris LaCivita, saying those fears are just “manufactured.”
He added that to cover attorney fees for his legal cases, Trump would be drawing money from other sources, including the Save America PAC as well as from his personal funds.
In 2021 and 2022, the RNC spent almost $2 million for legal firms that were working on cases for Trump. Those payments stopped, though, once Trump officially announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential race.
The RNC will continue to maintain a legal fund that’s used to pay for lawsuits, typical legal business for the party as well as recount efforts.
At the same time, Trump has bigger visions for how to reshape the committee.
One of the biggest efforts he will supposedly push is bolstering “election integrity.” Trump has said that he doesn’t believe the current iteration of the RNC is allocating sufficient resources to prevent election fraud, even though it has created an “Election Integrity Department.”
As LaCivita said:
“President Trump made perfectly clear that the number one priority of the RNC was to stop cheating. And that will be reflected in the budget, and that will be reflected in personnel, and that will be reflected in activity.”
A spokesperson for the committee also said the RNC has filed 78 lawsuits around election integrity in 23 states. In just the 2024 election cycle alone.
