Trump set to cement control over Republican Party leadership

The Republican National Committee was poised to elect Donald Trump loyalists, including his daughter-in-law, to top leadership positions on Friday, tightening the former president's grip over the party ahead of the November election.

Trump, 77, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, put forward a slate of hand-picked candidates last month to head the RNC, which raises funds for Republican candidates and doles out electoral cash.

Trump endorsed his "friend" Michael Whatley, the leader of the Republican Party in North Carolina, as RNC chair and his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, who is married to Trump's middle son Eric, as co-chair.

"Lara is an extremely talented communicator and is dedicated to all that MAGA stands for," Trump said in a reference to his "Make America Great Again" slogan.

The former president endorsed another ally, campaign strategist Chris LaCivita, to be the chief operating officer of the RNC.

"This group of three is highly talented, battle-tested, and smart," Trump said in a statement. "The RNC MUST be a good partner in the Presidential election."

The 168-member RNC is holding its spring meeting in Houston and will elect its new leaders later Friday.

Lara Trump has promised to devote party funds to her father-in-law's presidential campaign should she become RNC co-chair and has also argued that paying his legal bills is of "big interest" to Republican voters.

"Every single penny will go to the number one and the only job of the RNC," she told the Newsmax television channel. "That is electing Donald J. Trump as president of the United States and saving this country."

Trump has been faced with mounting legal bills from the various criminal and civil cases filed against him and has been drawing on funds to pay them from donations to his Save America political action committee.

  Former TV producer 

 In selecting Whatley, Trump said he is "committed to election integrity, which we must have to keep fraud out of our election so it can't be stolen."

Whatley, currently the general counsel of the RNC, has endorsed Trump's false claims that there was "massive fraud" in the 2020 presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden, his likely opponent in November.

Whatley will replace Ronna McDaniel as head of the RNC.

McDaniel, a niece of Utah Senator Mitt Romney, was chosen by Trump to head the body in 2016, but their relationship has soured following a string of Republican election losses and poor fundraising numbers.

Lara Trump, a 41-year-old former television producer, married Eric Trump in 2014 and was an active participant in her father-in-law's 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.

She has also displayed political aspirations of her own. She briefly considered running for a Senate seat in her home state of North Carolina in 2021 before deciding against it.

Trump surrounded himself with family members at his Trump Organization real estate business and also named relatives to prominent positions in the White House.

His daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner served as senior advisors during his presidency.