Trump plots to install new RNC leadership
Wants son’s wife Lara as co-chair
NEW YORK — Donald Trump wants a leadership change at the Republican National Committee in an attempt to install a new slate of loyalists — including his daughter-in-law — 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, Mr.
Trump on Monday night called for Ms. McDaniel to be replaced by Michael Whatley, the
North Carolina GOP chairman. The new co-chair, Mr. Trump said, should be his daughter-in-law Lara Trump.
Mr. Trump’s move to push out Ms. 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 Mr. Trump has not come close to gathering sufficient delegates to secure the nomination, he is eyeing a potential knockout blow against Nikki Haley, his last major primary rival, in her home state of South Carolina next week.
Central to Mr. Trump’s demands are his false theories of voter fraud. Mr. 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.
Mr. Trump, in his statement, noted Mr. 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 Ms. 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 Ms. Haley warned her party against acceding to Mr. Trump’s wishes.
Referencing Mr. Trump’s efforts to “get the RNC to name in the presumptive nominee,” Ms. Haley talked Tuesday about her rival’s moves to replace
“What we saw yesterday was, he took a different approach,” she said. “Now he has decided he has fired the RNC chair, he’s named who’s going to be the new RNC chair, his daughter-in-law will be the co-chair, and he is making his campaign manager the officer that runs the party. Think about what is happening right now. Is that how you’re going to try and take an election?”
Immediately following Mr. Trump’s announcement, Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney said Mr. Trump is simply “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”
Ms. Haley’s plan if given the opportunity to run the RNC? She’d “blow it all up,” Ms. Ankney said, and fire everyone.