Multiple reports Friday detailed that former President Donald Trump has completed his leadership push of the Republican National Committee (RNC), with party officials anointing his hand-picked choices for senior roles — including his daughter-in-law Lara Trump.
AP reports Michael Whatley, a North Carolina Republican who has backed Trump’s declarations of voter fraud, is set to be elected the party’s new national chairman in a vote Friday morning in Houston.
Lara Trump will become the co-chair. She follows a precedent set by Maureen Reagan, the daughter of President Ronald Reagan, the last family member of a president to serve as co-chair of the RNC back in the 1980s.
Whatley will carry the top title, replacing longtime chair Ronna McDaniel after she announced her departure last week, as Breitbart News reported.
But he will be surrounded by people closer to Trump. The AP report continues:
Lara Trump is expected to focus largely on fundraising and media appearances. The functional head of the RNC will be Chris LaCivita, who will assume the committee’s chief of staff role while maintaining his job as one of the Trump campaign’s top two advisers.
With Trump’s blessing, LaCivita is promising to enact sweeping changes and staffing moves at every level of the RNC to ensure it runs seamlessly as an extension of the Trump campaign.
The new senior roles are expected to be confirmed within hours of the initial speculation as the party sets a course for November.
Speaking to Reuters ahead of the appointments of Whatley and Trump, the chair of the Georgia Republican Party and a member of the RNC, Josh McKoon said: “These moves make a lot of sense.”
“As we head into a presidential year, we need all the financial resources we can challenging an incumbent president,” he added, noting Lara Trump’s demonstrable fundraising and communications skills while dismissing concerns about conflicts of interest.
More to come…