Republican seeks to bar party from paying Trump's legal bills
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[February 26, 2024]
By Helen Coster and Alexandra Ulmer
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Republican National Committee member has
submitted resolutions that would prohibit the party from paying
presidential candidate Donald Trump's legal bills, according to a draft,
but the measures must get more backers soon to move forward.
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Mississippi's national committeeman to the Republican National Committee
Henry Barbour attends U.S. President Donald Trump's speech wearing a
red, white and blue Amerian flag protective face mask because of the
coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on the first day of the 2020
Republican National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.,
August 24, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo |
Mississippi RNC committeeman Henry Barbour drafted the
resolution on Trump's legal expenses and another requiring the
party committee to stay neutral in the presidential race until
he receives enough delegates to secure the nomination.
"The RNC's job is to win elections. It's not to pay the legal
bills for any leading candidate. He's got to fight his own legal
fight," Barbour told Reuters on Saturday.
Barbour needs to get two cosponsors from 10 states to join the
effort by Tuesday for the resolutions to proceed to a full vote
by the RNC's 168 committee members. That vote could come in
March and would require a simple majority to pass. But Barbour
predicted they would be defeated if they reach that point.
Former President Trump, who denies all wrongdoing, faces four
criminal trials and was recently ordered to pay about $540
million in judgments in two civil cases.
A Trump super PAC reported paying more than $47 million in legal
expenses for him in 2023.
Trump is seeking to cement his status as Republican presidential
nominee and gain more control over the RNC, including by
nominating daughter-in-law Lara Trump as co-chair.
Lara Trump has said it is "a big interest to people" to pay fees
for her father-in-law's criminal and civil cases.
Barbour said pro-Trump forces were "jumping the gun" by seeking
to declare Trump the party's presidential nominee while longshot
challenger Nikki Haley remains in the race for the Republican
nomination to face Democratic President Joe Biden in the
November election. Trump is on course for another easy win in
South Carolina's primary on Saturday.
The resolutions were first reported by The Dispatch. Trump
campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita, who Trump has proposed serve
as the RNC's chief operating officer, on Saturday said in a
statement that it is "the RNC’s sole responsibility to defeat
Joe Biden and win back the White House."
On Friday, he said the RNC would not use raised funds to pay for
Trump's legal bills.
(Reporting by Helen Coster in New York and Alexandra Ulmer in
Columbia, South Carolina; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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