Trump lawyer resigns from GOP committee

President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen has resigned from the Republican National Committee, people familiar with the matter said, making him the third high-ranking member of the GOP’s top fundraising arm to leave under a cloud this year.

Cohen, who was vice chairman of the RNC Finance Committee, has been inactive on the committee for several months and Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel has accepted his resignation, an RNC official said. Two other people, who asked not to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about his departure, also said that he had stepped down.

Cohen is under criminal investigation by federal authorities in Manhattan over a wide range of his business activities, including a $130,000 payment to adult-film actress Stephanie Clifford to buy her silence before the 2016 election about an alleged affair with Trump a decade earlier.

Other high-profile RNC departures include former chairman and casino magnate Steve Wynn, who resigned in January after reports that he had engaged in multiple instances of sexual harassment. Elliot Broidy left his post as national deputy finance chairman in April after press reports that he, with Cohen’s legal assistance, paid $1.6 million to a Playboy model who had an abortion after their extramarital affair ended.