Scoop: Trump's team hires lawyer to "watch the money" at RNC

Source: Axios

5 hours ago


Former President Trump's new team at the Republican National Committee has tapped former RNC executive Sean Cairncross to help run the party's operations and watch its spending in the run-up to the November election, two people familiar with the move tell Axios.

Why it matters: Cairncross, a former RNC chief operating officer, will rejoin the party's staff at a time when GOP critics are pressing the committee to curb what they view as excess spending under former chair Ronna McDaniel.

Trump campaign co-campaign manager and incoming RNC chief operating officer Chris LaCivita is bringing on Sean Cairncross to be his number two at the RNC.

Cairncross is a lawyer with a reputation of enforcing financial discipline — someone who can "watch the money," a top Trump adviser told Axios.

The big picture: It's part of a Trump-backed makeover at the RNC, which has included the party's elections of North Carolina GOP Chair Michael Whatley and Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, to take over the committee.

LaCivita told Axios previously that the idea is to "maximize [RNC] resources" and focus the party's resources on "turning out voters" and building out "the best elections operations, including ballot security and voter integrity."

In a letter announcing her candidacy for RNC co-chair, Lara Trump wrote that the RNC would "do a deep dive through all of the RNC's existing contracts and vendor agreements, identifying what's useful and what isn't."

Trump's campaign has said that it will not use RNC funding to pay Trump's considerable legal bills, which could top half a billion dollars, per the AP.

The RNC faces a financial disadvantage compared to the Democratic National Committee after the RNC's fundraising difficulties last year.

Read more: https://www.axios.com/2024/03/10/trump-republicans-rnc-money

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Yeah he'll be "watching it" alright... watching it fly right out of the till.