Embattled Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel will step down from her position after the South Carolina primary, according to reports. A New York Times source said she informed former President Trump of her decision to resign.
Trump endorsed McDaniel in 2020 but later appeared to sour on her, refusing to back a candidate in the contentious 2023 race between McDaniel and Harmeet Dhillon.
On Monday, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “Ronna is now Head of the RNC, and I’ll be making a decision the day after the South Carolina Primary as to my recommendations for RNC Growth.”
For more than a year, Jennifer Van Laar at our sister site RedState has been a one-woman wrecking crew, exposing mismanagement of funds and outrageous expenditures during McDaniels’ tenure. You can read Van Laar’s extensive reporting here. She wrote on Jan. 31 that “the RNC spends significantly more than the DNC in the categories of office supplies, management consulting, floral arrangements, media booking consultants, and limousines. The DNC spends significantly more than the RNC in the categories of voter file maintenance, GOTV texting, and transfers to state parties.”
The RNC went ballistic over Van Laar’s reporting, which RedState and the Townhall Media family stand by.
🧵 Here we go. Memo sent by Christine Toretti, Chair of the RNC’s Standing Budget Committee, to the 168 members of the RNC regarding my story. It’s inaccurate and defamatory and I wasn’t going to share it but since others who aren’t in the 168 have shared parts of it, I am going… pic.twitter.com/d452Dzpgjh
— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) February 2, 2024
There was really nowhere for McDaniel to hide after reports of her financial mismanagement came to light, not to mention consecutive losing election cycles for Republicans.
Trump is expected to promote Michael Whatley, chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, as McDaniels’ replacement, according to New York Times’ sources.
Mr. Trump likes Mr. Whatley for one overwhelming reason, according to people who have discussed him with the former president: He is “a stop the steal guy,” as one of the people described him. He endorses Mr. Trump’s false claims about mass voter fraud and Mr. Trump believes he did a good job delivering North Carolina, a 2020 swing state, to him.
This is a developing story.