Donald Trump's Republican Party elects new leadership, including Lara Trump
HOUSTON ? Donald Trump's full-on takeover of the Republican National Committee is now complete.
RNC members who gathered at a convention-style hotel Friday elected a new leadership team ? including daughter-in-law Lara Trump as co-chair ? amid worry among some Republicans that the party apparatus will become a Trump-only money machine for legal fees and campaign expenses.
In her maiden speech as the new co-chair, Lara Trump pledged to work for all candidates, not just her father-in-law, and to win control of Congress as well as the presidency.
"As my father-in-law says, 'bigly' ... We're going to win!" Lara Trump said at a ballroom in a downtown Houston Hilton.
A call for unity
In praising the GOP's new leaders, outgoing Republican National Chair Ronna McDaniel called for party unity and asked Republicans to stop attacking one another. She did not give names.
"We cannot win if we're divided," McDaniel said.
The committee did not address, publicly, the most contentious question of the new Trump takeover: whether RNC money will be used to cover part of Trump's massive legal bills.
The RNC also formally declared Trump the presumptive presidential nominee, given his domination of the primaries.
Trump himself did not have an initial reaction to the leadership votes.
'Protecting the ballot'
Another Trump nominee, Michael Whatley, was elected to replace McDaniel as the RNC's national chair. Whatley was elected without opposition, as was Lara Trump.
Whatley, who had been the state chair of the North Carolina Republican Party, is best known for agreeing with Trump's unfounded complaints of voter fraud in the 2020 election.
In his acceptance speech, Whatley said his priorities are "getting out the vote" and "protecting the ballot," with legal action if necessary.
Whatley pledged to work hard not only for Trump, but also to flip the Senate to GOP control and "expand our majority" in the House of Representatives.
Trump officials denied they plan to use party money for legal expenses. They pledged to work for victory by Trump and other Republican candidates as they battle President Joe Biden and the Democrats.
Lara Trump did not mention her father-in-law’s legal problems during her speech, and referred to election campaigns when she said, “We have to raise a lot of money.”
She added that “we’re starting today, folks!" and displayed a just-written check for $100,000.
Trump's accusations of election fraud, and efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, are the basis for two criminal prosecutions against him, one in Georgia and the other in Washington, D.C. - big parts of Trump's growing legal bills.
Trump also faces a hush money trial in New York City scheduled to start March 15, and a federal case in Florida over hoarding classified documents.
RNC member Henry Barbour, from Mississippi, pitched a resolution expressly forbidding the party from paying Trump's legal fees. It did not reach the floor of Friday's meeting.
Before the voice vote for Whatley and Lara Trump, Barbour took a philosophical approach to the proceedings, saying "Hey, we gotta' win in November."
'Off to the races'
Trump aides who watched the RNC meeting were pleased.
Senior adviser Chris LaCivita, who was in Houston and will work with both the Trump campaign and the RNC, said tighter coordination will benefit both, especially with efforts to turn out voters.
"It's off to the races," LaCivita said after the leadership vote. "It's the final piece of the general election plan in terms of us putting together a ground game."
'Nuts and bolts'
After a buffet breakfast, RNC delegates heard a farewell speech from McDaniel, who extolled Republican advances but referenced "issues in our party" that include threats to unity.
McDaniel used her own family as an example, saying they have often fought one another publicly but have come together in the end. The niece of 2012 nominee Mitt Romney, a fierce Trump critic, McDaniel has stopped using the Romney family name.
Discussing her seven-year run as RNC chair, McDaniel said the party grew its membership, increased its fundraising and upgraded its get-out-the-vote machine.
"We do nuts and bolts," McDaniel said. "We do infrastructure."
Zero money for others?
Some Republicans worry that those jobs will be undermined under the new Trump leadership team, given the former president's financial demands. They also predicted that Trump and his allies will find some way to use the RNC to finance at least some of his legal bills.
Republican strategist Liz Mair, who did not attend the meeting in Houston, said the end result is that most if not all RNC money will benefit one candidate: Trump.
"There will be zero money available for any candidates down ballot. Zero," said Liz Mair, a Republican strategist. "All of it will be funneled into the presidential, and despite what (Trump aide) Chris LaCivita says, I'm pretty sure as much of it as can be will actually be funneled into covering Trump lawsuit costs."
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley voiced similar concerns during her presidential campaign.
"I don’t want the RNC to become his piggy bank for his personal court cases," Haley told CNN.
Democrats said Trump is putting an extremist stamp on the RNC.
“This latest MAGA rebrand will not change the RNC’s dire fundraising issues or string of electoral losses, and Republicans will regret elevating a fringe election denier as chairman when he leads them to another Trump defeat in November,” said Alex Floyd, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee.
Trump has more control
Since first winning the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, Trump has exercised major control of the party, of course. As president-elect, Trump picked McDaniel to run the RNC, and generally supported her over the years for years.
The two did differ on things. Recently, Trump reacted negatively after the RNC refused to declare him the presumptive nominee because Haley was still in the race.
McDaniel announced last month she would resign, and the new leadership teams gives Trump more control of the party than he has ever had.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump's GOP picks new leaders, including Lara Trump
