The Republican National Committee won’t act on a proposal that would have barred it from paying former President Donald Trump’s legal bills, after the proposition failed to get enough support among RNC members.
Henry Barbour, a national committeeman from Mississippi, told The Washington Times that his proposed resolution is now “dead” after it failed to receive the required support of two out of three RNC members from at least 10 states. He said it had support in eight states by the deadline.
“We offered a resolution that would focus RNC spending on winning elections. That’s our core mission. And it would prevent the RNC from paying legal bills of any candidate,” he said. “We were not able to get enough support for the resolution. And so therefore, there will be no vote on that resolution at the Friday RNC general session.”
The RNC spring meeting will take place in Houston on Friday to elect a new chair after current Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel announced her resignation.
Another proposal by Mr. Barbour would have banned the RNC and its leadership from declaring Mr. Trump as the nominee until he captured the necessary 1,215 delegates.]
The demise of the legal-bill proposal took place after Super Tuesday, in which Mr.Trump scooped up 784 additional delegates to his previously allocated 276 delegates. He needs 1,215 delegates to clinch the GOP nomination.
His only opponent, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, suspended her presidential campaign Wednesday morning.
Mr. Trump is currently facing 91 indictments in four separate court cases spread out among the District of Columbia, New York, Georgia and Florida.
However, there appears to be no sour grapes from Mr. Barbour over the issue of his legal bill resolution being sidelined. He said the party needs to unite to defeat President Biden and that the Trump campaign has assured the RNC they will not use it as a piggy bank to pay for Mr. Trump’s legal woes.
“We need to transition from the primary to the general, to make sure that we beat Joe Biden and help Donald Trump get back to the White House to get the country back on track,” he said.
He said Trump co-Campaign Manager Chris LaCavita “has said very plainly that we are not going to use RNC funds to pay former President Trump’s legal bills. So, that’s encouraging.”
Mr Trump has endorsed North Carolina GOP Chair Michael Whatley to replace Ms. McDaniel, and supports his daughter-in-law Lara Trump as co-chair.
During a recent interview on Newsmax, Ms. Trump said that “every single penny” of RNC money “will go to the No. 1 and the only job of the RNC — that is electing Donald J. Trump as president of the United States and saving this country.”
She warned those who scorned the party, during an appearance on “Real America’s Voice,” that “there will be no funny business.”
“Anyone who is not on board with seeing Donald Trump as the 47th president and America-loving patriots all the way down the ticket being supported by the RNC is welcome to leave, because we are not playing games. And we have no time to waste,” she said.
“So, we have to ensure that every single penny of every dollar donated goes to causes people care about. That’s part of the reason that I think I’m such a great fit for this: There’s no one more loyal to Donald Trump and the Make America Great Again movement than this person you’re looking at right here — than me,” she said.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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