The Republican National Committee (RNC) didn’t get enough votes to submit a resolution to bar the organization from paying former President Donald Trump’s legal bills amid multiple criminal cases.
Henry Barbour, Mississippi’s national committeeman, told multiple outlets this week that a resolution that he drafted for the RNC that would have blocked it from covering President Trump’s many legal fees won’t be passed.
“It’s dead,” Mr. Barbour told Politico and Reuters about the resolution. “We ended up with 8 of the (10) necessary states, so no vote on Friday on the legal bill resolution,” he added.
He told the outlet that paying off the bills is part of the former president’s reelection campaign to oust President Joe Biden, describing the criminal cases as “lawfare.”
“Winning this lawfare is to defeat Biden’s reelection in November,” Mr. Yue said, adding, “The only mission of the Republican National Committee is to elect our presumptive nominee Trump as the 47th President.”
Other RNC committee members, too, told CNBC that they believe the organization should pay the bills.
“I believe the RNC should pay President Trump’s legal bills,” said RNC committee member Roger Villere of Louisiana. “I know we will be raising the money needed for that as well as electing our Republican candidates this fall,” he added.
“The only funds the RNC will have (above keeping the lights on and hopefully making payroll) will come from the amazing efforts of Trump to raise money,” said another RNC member, Paul Reynolds of Alabama, according to the outlet.
He suggested that the RNC pay his legal fees because any “new money coming into the RNC will be due to the efforts of Trump and the Trump organization.”
What the Resolution Says
As Mr. Barbour was suggesting the resolution last week, Trump senior campaign adviser Chris LaCivita told reporters Friday night that the RNC would not pay President Trump’s legal bills.In a statement on Saturday, LaCavita said that “the RNC’s sole responsibility to defeat Joe Biden and win back the White House,” adding, “Efforts to delay that assist Joe Biden in the destruction of our nation ... Republicans cannot stand on the sidelines and allow this to happen.”
One of Mr. Barbour’s proposed resolutions says that the RNC and its leadership will stay neutral throughout the presidential primary and not take on additional staff from any of the active campaigns until a candidate has the needed delegates to be the nominee.
The second resolution says the organization will not pay the legal bills of any candidate for federal or state office but will instead focus its spending on efforts directly related to the 2024 election.
“The RNC has one job. That’s winning elections,” Mr. Barbour said last week. “I believe RNC funds should be spent solely on winning elections, on political expenses, not legal bills.”
The RNC meets in Houston this Friday to elect a new chair after current Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel confirmed she would resign in an announcement last month. The former president has endorsed RNC general counsel Michael Whatley for chairman, and he suggested that his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, should be elected co-chair.
The RNC was paying some of President Trump’s legal bills for New York cases that started while he was president, but Ms. McDaniel said in November 2022 that the RNC would stop paying once the former became a candidate again and started running for the 2024 presidential election.
The former president is reportedly spending millions on lawyers in his case, but he also has legal debts that top half a billion dollars. That includes a $355 million judgment that was handed down by a New York judge last month, accusing President Trump of defrauding banks and insurance companies.
