Former US president Donald Trump endorsed his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, to help lead the Republican National Committee (RNC), a move that would tighten his hold on the Republican Party even as US presidential election nominating contest continues.
Trump, in an announcement by his campaign on Monday night, proposed that Lara Trump, a former television producer who is married to his son, Eric, become cochair along with Michael Whatley, the RNC’s general counsel.
The current chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, has been in discussions to step down, people familiar with the plans said.
Photo: AP
“My very talented daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, has agreed to run as the RNC Co-Chair. Lara is an extremely talented communicator and is dedicated to all that MAGA stands for,” Trump said in a statement.
He described Whatley as someone “who has been with me from the beginning, has done a great job in his home state of North Carolina, and is committed to election integrity, which we must have to keep fraud out of our election so it can’t be stolen.”
Whatley has supported Trump’s false claims that he won the US presidential election in 2020.
Trump added that he had also asked his co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita, to “in effect” assume the role of RNC chief operating officer, managing the committee’s “day-to-day operations so it will become a fighting machine for 2024.”
Endorsing his daughter-in-law for RNC chair after applying public pressure on McDaniel to step down would all but complete Trump’s control the Republican campaign apparatus. Both Lara Trump and Whatley are North Carolina natives. Democrats consider the state as a possible battleground in the US presidential election in November.
McDaniel has told Trump that she would vacate her position following South Carolina Republican primary on Saturday next week, in which Trump intends to deliver the state’s ex-governor Nikki Haley an embarrassing defeat, a person familiar with the matter said.
Polls show that he leads Haley, his former UN ambassador, by an average of 31 percentage points, according to RealClearPolitics.
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