RNC Measure Would Slow Trump Takeover

A pair of resolutions circulating among Republican National Committee members would slow Donald Trump's move to assume control of party management and money. One of the drafts offered by Henry Barbour, a longtime committeeman from Mississippi, would prohibit the RNC from covering the millions Trump owes in legal bills, the Dispatch reports. The other would keep the Republican Party from considering Trump its presumptive presidential nominee before he has won enough convention delegates, preventing the RNC from coordinating with him or his campaign on fundraising, per NBC News.

"The Republican National Committee and its leadership will stay neutral throughout the Presidential primary," the draft says. The resolutions, which would not be binding, were criticized by a Trump adviser, per the New York Times. "The primary is over, and it is the RNC's sole responsibility to defeat Joe Biden and win back the White House," Chris LaCivita said, adding, "Republicans cannot stand on the sidelines and allow this to happen." The former president has already said he wants LaCivita to become the national committee's chief operating officer, part of the new management that would include Lara Trump as co-chair.

Another resolution from another committeeman briefly called on the RNC to declare Trump the presumptive nominee. The measure was withdrawn after it became public and Trump said he opposed it. The former president doesn't quite have a clear field ahead of him for the nomination; Nikki Haley said she's staying in the GOP race despite a resounding loss to Trump on Saturday in South Carolina's Republican primary, per CNN. (More Republican National Committee stories.)