COLUMBIA, S.C. — Prominent Republican National Committee members are proposing two resolutions that would distance the Republican Party from former President Donald Trump, at least a little longer.
The first resolution, by Henry Barber, a longtime member of the party from Mississippi, would allow the National Party to coordinate with Trump until he wins enough delegates to become the party's presumptive nominee. It prohibited fundraising for election campaigns.
The draft resolution states in part, “The Republican National Committee and its leadership will remain neutral during the presidential primary and will continue to remain neutral during the active presidential election until 1,215 delegates are reached and a candidate is clearly determined.'' “We will not be hiring additional staff from the movement.”
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Trump has won every Republican primary and caucus so far, but former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley insists he plans to stay in the race for a while longer.
Trump has already proposed that his current campaign co-director, Chris LaCivita, take the helm of the RNC as chief operating officer. If passed by the RNC's 168 members, the resolution would delay the process by which Trump's team would effectively take over the organization.
Unlike the Biden campaign and the DNC, the Trump campaign and RNC have not yet launched a joint fundraising committee, which would allow the two organizations to better coordinate and advance their mutual financial interests.
The Trump campaign issued a statement Saturday expressing disapproval of Babour's actions.
“The primaries are over, and it is the RNC's sole responsibility to defeat Joe Biden and take back the White House,” Lacivita said. “Efforts to delay it will help Joe Biden destroy our country.” said. Republicans cannot stand by and tolerate this. ”
Late last month, another RNC member introduced a resolution declaring Trump the party's “presumptive” nominee. After some controversy, and after Trump himself opined on social media that the RNC should not adopt it, members withdrew it.
Mr. Barbour has also proposed a second resolution that would prohibit the RNC from paying Mr. Trump's legal costs. If passed, it would declare that “the Republican National Committee will not pay the legal costs of candidates for federal or state office, but will focus its spending on efforts directly related to the 2024 election cycle.”
Ahead of Trump's campaign rally on Friday, LaCivita also promised that the RNC would not pay for Trump's legal expenses if the campaign and the RNC worked together.
When asked about what the funds would be used for, Rachivita repeatedly answered, “No.”
“We have serious discussions about protecting the primary election process while there are still two candidates competing and preventing the RNC from paying the legal costs of political candidates unrelated to the election cycle.” We introduced these two resolutions to ensure that In a statement to NBC News on Saturday.
RNC members will meet in Houston on March 7 and 8 and may vote on two resolutions at that time.
It is also unclear when or if Ronna McDaniel will step down as chairwoman. In early February, President Trump called for RNC Commissioner Michael Whatley of North Carolina to replace her, but it was up to McDaniel to decide whether McDaniel would resign or whether RNC commissioners would remove her from her post. It depends.
Mr. Whatley accompanied Mr. Trump on his plane from South Carolina to Washington, D.C., on Saturday to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference, according to a person familiar with his travels.
RNC members can also vote for new party leadership in Houston.
But there is a further potential complication facing Mr. Trump's allies in taking over the RNC: If Mr. McDaniel resigns, Mr. He could face a challenge from RNC co-chairman Drew McKissick.
When asked repeatedly in an interview with NBC News on Saturday whether he would rule out a run for speaker, McKissick explicitly refused to take such an effort off the table, but he did not know who the Republican presidential nominee would be. However, he admitted that there was a problem. We have a big say in this issue.
“I will cooperate with the team on this matter,” McKissic said. “This is all about putting together who is going to be in the best slot to do whatever it takes to win, and the candidates have a big say in that.”
McKissick has already reached out to other RNC members to gauge interest in supporting him for the RNC chairmanship. A year ago, Mr. McKissick smartly defeated Mr. Whatley, who also had Mr. Trump's support at the time, in an RNC vote to become the party's co-chairman.
McKissick declined to say whether he supported Whatley as RNC chairman, instead calling the North Carolina Republican a “good friend” and criticizing Trump's role in ultimately determining RNC leadership. I welcomed it.
“After you decide on a candidate, things start to come together when you get to the stage where you put together the presidential campaign and the RNC teams. Once you have a strong candidate, things start to come together,” McKissic said. “So it becomes a leadership issue.”