Donald Trump has cemented his take-over of the Republican Party with the ascent of two loyalists to the top leadership positions in its national organisation.

The former president earlier endorsed Michael Whatley and Lara Trump, his daughter-in-law, for chair and co-chair of the Republican National Committee.

Their elections were formalised on Friday at the RNC's spring training gathering in Houston, Texas.

Mr Trump, 77, is slated to soon become the party's presidential nominee again.

Ahead of what will be his third consecutive election to the Republican nomination, allies and supporters had piled pressure on him to remove long-time RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.

Ms McDaniel was chosen by Mr Trump in 2017 and, in January 2023, won election to a record fourth term that was due to last until 2025, but offered in February to step aside.

She has long faced complaints that the RNC was not aggressive enough in backing up the ex-president's debunked claims that the 2020 election was rigged against him. Mr Trump, whose final weeks in the White House were pre-occupied by a frantic and sprawling effort to "stop the steal", has reportedly said that not enough resources were poured into finding lawyers, filing lawsuits, training poll-watchers and investing in election-integrity efforts.

The latter portion of Ms McDaniel's tenure has also overseen an anaemic period of fundraising on behalf of Republicans, with the party coffers last year taking their worst beating in a decade and entering 2024 with about half as much cash on hand as Democrats.

That has been to the detriment of the former president, whose legal bills have been soaring for months as he faces 91 felony charges across four upcoming criminal trials, the first of which begins later this month.

Mr Trump is also currently on the hook for roughly half a billion dollars as a result of civil trial rulings against him in his home state of New York over sexual assault, defamation and business fraud. On Friday, he posted a nearly $92m (£72m) bond in the defamation case he lost to writer E Jean Carroll.

In recent months, Mr Trump has also lashed out at the RNC for hosting a series of debates ahead of the primary election. Though he easily qualified to attend every event, the Republican frontrunner declined to participate each time, arguing that he was so far ahead in the polls that he did not need to face challengers who were far behind him.

The five RNC-sanctioned debates provided a platform to rivals like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley to criticise Mr Trump, largely unrebutted, between August and January. Though their efforts did not significantly narrow Mr Trump's polling advantage, they helped extend the primary season and force him to keep spending campaign cash.

In his new hand-picked recruits, Mr Trump has found both an ally committed to backing his election fraud claims and a family member apparently devoted to supporting him with party funds.

"President Trump deserves to have the team that he wants in place at the RNC," Ms McDaniel said in emotional farewell remarks.

Her second-in-command, RNC co-chair Drew McKissick, also stepped aside on Friday.

Mr Whatley, who takes over Ms McDaniel's role, is the current chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party and a former party general counsel. He is said to have boasted to Mr Trump about his actions to protect election integrity in his state.

Mrs Trump, the wife of Eric Trump, is expected to play a major role in fundraising and media appearances as the new co-chair. She has previously said the RNC must "spend every single penny" to re-elect Mr Trump, including by supporting his legal costs.

In their acceptance speeches, they promised to work "hand in glove" with the presumptive nominee, with Mrs Trump flashing a $100,000 cheque she had just been donated to the committee.

"If a dollar that we have is not directed towards winning this November, that dollar will not be spent," Mr Whatley said.

The former president is also planning to install two of his senior campaign advisers, Chris LaCivita and James Blair, to senior positions at the RNC.

Remaking the party in his image comes as Mr Trump needs the full weight of its infrastructure behind him in a general election rematch with President Joe Biden that is forecast to become the most expensive election in US history.

Polls show the two men locked in a statistical dead heat eight months out, but the Democrat has been on a record fundraising blitz since the start of the year and has roughly twice the cash reserves of his opponent.

Source: BBC 

BDST: 1225 HRS, MAR 09, 2023
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