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A couple of payments that the Committee Republican National (RNC) made to a law firm representing former president Donald Trump are generating questions among former and current officials of the Republican Party on the party’s priorities in a critical election year and its ability to remain neutral, as established by the RNC for a long time, in the presidential primaries of 2024, according to CNN.
Separate payments to Fischetti and Malgieri LLP totaling $ 102, 670 dollars, listed in the committee’s last submission to the Federal Election Commission, were first reported Monday.
Ronald Fischetti, a partner at the New York-based firm, was hired by the Trump Organization in April amid investigations into course on the financial practices of the real estate company, initiated by the district attorney of Manhattan, Cyrus Vance Jr., and the attorney general of New York, Letitia James.
A spokesperson for the RNC said that the party’s executive committee “recently approved the payment of certain legal expenses related to politically motivated legal proceedings against President Trump.” , and defended the payments to Trump’s attorneys as “entirely appropriate” as the party “continues to assist in fighting the endless witch hunt and attacks by Democrats against ”
However, some members and donors of the RNC accused the Republican Party to violate its own rules of neutrality and deviate its priorities.
Some of these same officials who spoke to CNN as well questioned why the party would pay the legal bills of a self-proclaimed billionaire , who was sitting on a war chest of $ 102 million dollars in July and has previously used its various political committees to cover its legal costs.
Based on August FEC filings, Trump’s Make America Great Again committee has paid Jones Day more than $ 37, 000 dollars since the beginning of the year, while their super PAC Make America Great Again has paid a combined $ 7.8 million dollars to the attorneys handling your lawsuits related to the elections of 2020.
“This is not normal. None of this is normal, especially since he is not only a former president but also a billionaire, “a former senior RNC official told CNN. “What does all this have to do with helping Republicans in 2022 or preparing for the primaries of 2024? ” added.
Not sufficient funds to support a Republican in elections
Bill Palatucci, a member of the New Jersey national committee, said the fact that the RNC made payments to Trump’s attorneys in October was particularly frustrating, given his own request to party officials made that same month, for to allocate additional resources when the New Jersey Republican Party sought to push Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli to win the elections to the current Democratic Governor Phil Murphy .
“Sure we could have used $ 121, 000, ”Palatucci told CNN.
Although Murphy narrowly defeated Ciattarelli to win ar re-election to governor of New Jersey, the unexpectedly tight race in a state that President Joe Biden won by 20 percentage points in 2020 left Democrats reeling about what this could mean for their party in next year’s election. year.
“We were in the middle of a close combat trying to win and those resources could have helped here. This just speaks for itself of what the priorities were, ”added Palatucci.
Another former RCN officer commented: “Trump helps them raise large amounts of money, but it is also likely make him a candidate for the presidency and it will only make it harder for them to keep their distance, “he told CNN, while questioning why the RNC is” having to pay “for this when you have these super PACs getting unlimited money for Trump.”
It is not clear if RNC donors were informed in advance that your contributions could be used to subsidize the Trump family’s legal fees, a question that the Democratic National Committee ( DNC) was also made this week.
“Ronna McDaniel and the Republican National Committee are using their donor money to fund defense Trump’s personal legal wed Behind him he has hundreds of millions of his own money and campaign funds, ”said DNC spokesperson, Adonna Biel, it’s a statement. “If we were the RNC donors, we would certainly be asking questions.”