The Republican National Committee is purging dozens of staff after former President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law and other loyalists were elected to leadership.
The new RNC leadership — former RNC general counsel Michael Whatley and Trump daughter-in-law Lara Trump — is expected to fire about 60 people, according to The Guardian, including five senior staffers. Some vendor contracts are also expected to be canceled.
One source called it an “absolute bloodbath,” according to the report.
The RNC is “being brought under the Trump campaign to such an extent, the sources said, that the firings are mainly to ensure there is no overlap in roles between the RNC and the campaign,” The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reported, adding that the firings are also part of a strategy to ensure that only staffers loyal to Trump and the MAGA movement remain.
“Chairman Whatley is in the process of evaluating the organization and staff to ensure the building is aligned with his vision of how to win in November,” the new RNC chief operating officer, Sean Cairncross, wrote in an email seen by The Guardian. “During this process, certain staff are being asked to resign and reapply for a position on the team.”
Some RNC members have been nervous that Trump would raid the party coffers to pay his legal fees after he pushed out former Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.
“I’ve been told by other people that it’s fairly common for a presidential candidate and the RNC to integrate but I feel right now what’s happening is not an integration, it’s something between a purge and a takeover and that’s a concern for me,” RNC member Paul Dame, the chairman of the Vermont GOP, told USA Today last week.
“I suspect if people thought a contribution to the RNC was going to legal bills that have nothing to do with the 2024 cycle they might be less likely to contribute to the RNC,” added Henry Barbour, an RNC member from Mississippi, noting that Trump’s legal bills have “nothing to do with winning elections.”
“The RNC, in deciding to become Trumps toilet and slush fund, is going to do real damage to down ballot races,” tweeted former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill. “They deserve it for capitulating. How far they have fallen.”
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