New RNC leadership team could include daughter-in-law of Trump as co-chair
NEW YORK — Donald Trump called Monday night for a leadership change at the Republican National Committee in an attempt to install a new slate of loyalists — including his daughter-inlaw — atop the GOP’s political machine even before the former president formally secures the party’s next presidential nomination.
Current RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel says she has no plans to leave the committee until at least after South Carolina’s Feb. 24 primary election.
Still, Trump is calling for McDaniel to be replaced by Michael Whatley, the North Carolina GOP chairman. The new co-chair, Trump said, should be his daughter-inlaw Lara Trump.
Trump’s move to push out McDaniel — days after the two met at his Mar-aLago residence and agreed to delay a decision on her future — reflects his urgency to force Republicans to unite behind him in a likely rematch against President Joe Biden. While Trump has not come close to gathering sufficient delegates to secure the nomination, he is eying a potential knockout blow against Nikki Haley, his last major primary rival, in her home state of South Carolina next week.
Central to Trump’s demands are his false theories of voter fraud. Trump has long complained that the RNC is not focused enough on preventing voter fraud, which he continues to falsely insist cost him the 2020 election, even though his own election officials, Justice Department and numerous courts found no evidence to support his claims.
Trump, in his statement, noted Whatley is “committed to election integrity, which we must have to keep fraud out of our election so it can’t be stolen.”
RNC spokesman Keith Schipper said McDaniel had no immediate plans to step down.
“Chairwoman McDaniel has been on the road helping elect Republicans up and down the ballot and she will continue working hard to beat Biden this fall. Nothing has changed, and there will be no decision or announcement about future plans until after South Carolina,” he said.
That’s even as Haley warned her party against acceding to Trump’s wishes.
During a South Carolina campaign stop earlier in the day, Haley wrapped Trump’s involvement in the national party’s troubles into a screed against GOP failures, including the party’s unsuccessful attempt to impeach the Homeland Security secretary and enact a broader border security bill.
“The RNC lost its party chair position. The RNC is broke,” Haley told a crowd. “And he’s got his fingerprints on all of that.“
McDaniel, the niece of Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, was Trump’s handpicked choice to lead the RNC shortly after his 2016 election. The 50-yearold from Michigan was a strong advocate for the former president and helped reshape the GOP’s governing body in his image, but Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement increasingly blamed her for the party’s struggles in recent national elections.
The campaign’s effective takeover of the RNC would bring benefits for both the committee and Trump’s campaign — at least in theory.