Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump attends a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court on February 15, 2024 in New York City.Â
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A growing number of Republican National Committee members believe its campaign arm should help pay mounting legal bills for former President Donald Trump, a move that could strain the party’s ability to financially support other candidates in the 2024 election.
RNC Committeeman Solomon Yue, who is from Oregon, told CNBC he believes “more than a majority” of members are in favor of helping offset the bills from Trump’s lawyers in four pending criminal cases, and at least three other civil cases.
“I support the RNC paying President Trump’s legal bills,” Yue said.
That support by Yue and others led to the defeat Tuesday of a proposed resolution by RNC committee member Henry Barbour that would have barred the group from paying those bills once Trump becomes the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, who is a billionaire.
“The resolution is dead,” Barbour told Reuters.
He did not return CNBC’s request for comment.
Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley dropped out of the Republican presidential nomination contest Wednesday, making it all but certain that Trump soon will collect the minimum 1,215 delegates he needs to become the party’s presumptive nominee.
When Barbour first proposed his resolution in February, Trump’s senior campaign advisor Chris LaCivita — who Trump has endorsed to become the next RNC chief operating officer — told reporters the committee would not be used to pay Trump’s legal bills.
And the RNC historically has raised money to support candidates up and down the ballot, not to pay for a candidate’s legal bills.
But that history and LaCivita’s promise might not matter given the level of support for the idea by a growing group of the RNC’s voting members.
Ronna McDaniel, who has led the RNC since 2017, plans to step down at its spring meeting in Houston on…
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