Democratic National Committee officials lambasted newly installed Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley and co-Chairwoman Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of former President Donald Trump, as they seek to reset the financially strapped committee ahead of the November election.
In a memo released Wednesday, DNC Executive Director Sam Cornale took aim at significant staff changes, which he taunted as “financial disarray and leadership turmoil,” that the two new RNC leaders quickly implemented after they were elected last week.
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“As the GOP marches toward a third Trump nomination, voters, donors, and staff alike are either fleeing the MAGA-fied Republican Party or being chaotically forced out in a mass purge, casting a troubling shadow on the committee’s balance sheet and their prospects at the ballot box leading into a critical election year,” Cornale wrote.
As Trump steamrolled his GOP primary rivals, he began implementing control of the RNC by endorsing a trio of candidates for executive positions that would meld the committee with his campaign.
On Monday, multiple staffers were fired, with more than 60 RNC members from the data, political, and communications departments expected to be relieved of their duties.
That is on top of disappointing fundraising figures from the RNC in 2023.
Under former RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel’s charge, the RNC faced its worst fundraising haul since 2013, with only $8 million in cash on hand after raising $87.2 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings from 2023.
Lara Trump has said her top job at the RNC will be to restore the committee’s finances.
“I hope to be there as someone who will ensure that, indeed, every single dollar donated goes to making sure we win on Election Day — at the top of the ballot and down the ballot,” she previously told the Washington Examiner.
Democrats, have far surpassed the GOP in fundraising. The DNC raised $120 million in 2023 and had $24 million cash on hand, three times as much as the RNC.
“Meanwhile, the DNC continues to shatter fundraising records, over perform in elections, and invest record amounts in state parties and down-ballot races,” Cornale continued.
President Joe Biden and Donald Trump are now set for a rematch of their 2020 battle after they both reached their respective delegate thresholds to become the presumptive party nominees on Tuesday.
But Donald Trump’s legal problems, including 91 felony charges over four cases, have taken up a sizable portion of his finances. His political action committees paid more than $50 million on legal fees in 2023.
There is some concern that the RNC will now come to the former president’s financial aid, which Democrats slammed.
“Pledging to spend the RNC’s non-existent war chest on Trump’s legal bills is not a good pitch to donors, who are already refusing to donate,” Cornale wrote. “Whatley and Lara Trump are poised to make the RNC’s fundraising issues even worse than they are.”
In a cheeky poke at Whatley and Lara Trump’s installation, the DNC also gifted the pair a piggy bank on Wednesday morning.
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“It must be demoralizing walking into your first week in a new job knowing that you’re boarding a sinking ship,” DNC rapid response director Alex Floyd said in a statement. “So, as newly elected Trump loyalists Michael Whatley and Lara Trump start as chair and co-chair of the RNC, we wanted to send them something to raise their spirits even if it doesn’t fix their abysmal fundraising numbers.
“Lucky for them, this piggy bank isn’t just a great tool to teach basic fiscal responsibility — it’s also plastic, so it’ll be the last thing the Republican Party has that isn’t broken past the point of repair by November,” he continued.