Trump RNC 'purge' has some committee members nervous about party footing his legal bills

Former President Donald Trump’s impending takeover of the Republican National Committee could give him access to a big new pile of cash at a time when he is beset by legal bills, making some committee members nervous.

Limiting Trump's access to the RNC's coffers is a touchy subject, and an effort to pressure his team on spending restrictions failed. But it serves as another example of the pockets of Trump resistance that persist within the GOP.

Trump pushed RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel to resign from the job after seven years, and wants his daughter-in-law Lara Trump and another loyalist, North Carolina Republican Party Chair Michael Whatley, to serve as co-chairs. Top Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita would be chief operating officer.

RNC members are meeting in Houston on Friday to consider the leadership change.

It’s not uncommon for the RNC to be tightly integrated with the campaign of the Republican presidential nominee, a title Trump clinched after Nikki Haley dropped out of the race Wednesday. But there are some unusual aspects of Trump’s campaign that continue to worry some Republicans.

A top concern is Trump’s mounting legal bills, and whether he could try and get the party to pay for them. Some committee members supported a failed resolution that aimed at prohibiting the RNC from picking up Trump’s legal tab.

The overhaul of RNC leadership also has critics.

“I’ve been told by other people that it’s fairly common for a presidential candidate and the RNC to integrate but I feel right now what’s happening is not an integration, it’s something between a purge and a takeover and that’s a concern for me,” said RNC member and Vermont GOP Chair Paul Dame.

Trump moves to put Lara Trump, other loyalists in key roles

Trump is known to surround himself with family members: in business and in politics. One of the ways that Trump managed his first term at the White House was by appointing family to key roles, including daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

For Trump, it's the only way to guarantee the utmost loyalty.

Having the party’s national organization dominated by one personality bothers Dame, who said he worries about what happens once Trump’s gone, and about the RNC taking on some Trump characteristics he finds troubling, such as vindictiveness.

“One of my concerns is that Trump’s cooperation with the other Republicans has been very dependent on his perception of their loyalty to him and that’s an element if it makes its way into the RNC becomes very difficult,” he said.

As for not paying Trump’s legal bills, that should be a “slam dunk,” Dame said.

Dame said the RNC traditionally pays for a lot of things that help all Republican candidates, such as turning out “low propensity” voters, adding he believes that’s what most donors want. Paying for Trump’s legal bills only helps Trump, he said.

Trump is facing 91 felony charges across four criminal cases, along with multiple civil lawsuits. His campaign and associated political committees already have spent tens of millions paying the lawyers defending Trump. He also was ordered to pay $83.3 million in a defamation case brought by the writer Jean Carroll, and $453.5 million including interest in a business fraud case.

LaCivita has said repeatedly that RNC money won’t be used to pay Trump’s legal bills.

"I've made it perfectly clear... we would not be paying legal bills," LaCivita said Tuesday at Trump's Super Tuesday election night party in Palm Beach.

Some RNC members wanted the commitment in writing, though.

Henry Barbour, the Republican national committeeman from Mississippi, sponsored the resolution prohibiting the RNC from paying a candidate’s legal bills. He said it would've helped reassure donors.

“I suspect if people thought a contribution to the RNC was going to legal bills that have nothing to do with the 2024 cycle they might be less likely to contribute to the RNC,” Barbour said.

RNC discussion of legal bills 'still very much alive'

Barbour's resolution needed support from 10 states, each with two co-sponsors, to force a vote Friday but only obtained eight. It was non-binding. A formal rule change would need to be approved at the Republican National Convention in July.

While the resolution failed, Barbour said "the discussion is still very much alive."

“The RNC has one job and that’s to win elections," Barbour said, adding that paying a candidate's legal bills. “Has nothing to do with winning elections.”

The concerns surrounding Trump’s RNC takeover are another sign of the discomfort his campaign has elicited in some corners of the party, as evinced by Nikki Haley drawing a significant slice of the GOP primary vote through Super Tuesday despite polls showing for months that Trump was almost certain to be the nominee.

Trump’s campaign continues to give plenty of Republicans heartburn, and they registered their discontent with protest votes in primary after primary. Haley won two primaries - Vermont and the District of Columbia - and topped 30% of the vote in a number of other states. Some states are still counting votes from Super Tuesday.

The majority of Republicans feel differently, though, and Trump's picks for RNC leadership are expected to easily win the election.

Many Trump supporters are cheering on his RNC takeover. McDaniel has been under fire for years from GOP activists.

Steve Bannon, a longtime Trump ally who served as his chief strategist in the White House, said on his podcast this week that Barbour's resolution was "spitting in President Trump's face."

"This is another outrage at the RNC and we thought the whole thing was dealt with," Bannon said. "We gotta see the building purged... all the building's gotta be purged - 100% purged."

Bill Palatucci, the Republican national committeeman from New Jersey, said he doesn’t have a problem with the nominee “putting their imprint on the committee.”

“The important factor is senior staff, and Chris LaCivita in my experience is a pro and understands the role of the RNC in the presidential cycle,” Palatucci said in an email. “From there, it is the responsibility of the Executive Committee and the Budget Committee to insure that the spending is appropriate. “

Stan Pate, a Trump supporter from Alabama who gave six figure contributions to the main super PAC supporting Trump, said that McDaniel’s departure will make him more likely to support the RNC, and he’s fine with his money being used to pay Trump’s legal bills.

“I’m fixing to write him another big check quite frankly,” said Pate, a real estate developer and investor. “I can tell you this: If he don’t win we’re all in trouble so I’ve got an opportunity to hopefully have some impact in that.”

Zac Anderson is Campaign 2024 reporter covering Donald Trump and Republicans for USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: RNC, Trump legal bills: Why some in GOP nervous about Trump RNC purge