The Republican National Committee would not pay legal bills for former President Donald Trump if he opts to launch a bid for the White House in 2024.
“We cannot pay legal bills for any candidate that’s announced. So these are bills that came from the Letitia James lawsuit that started while he was president,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told CNN Sunday. “It was voted on by our executive committee for our former president, that this was a politically motivated investigation and that’s what it’s been.”
The RNC said that last November that they had been paying certain legal fees “that relate to politically motivated legal proceedings waged against President Trump,” according to reporting from The Hill, including investigations by then-Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
That assistance would stop if Trump were to launch a 2024 bid, making him a current candidate instead of simply a former president.
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“We cannot do in-kind contributions to any candidate right now. He’s the former president being attacked from every which way with lawsuits, and he’s certainly raised more under the RNC than we’ve spent on these bills,” McDaniel said.
The Trump Organization has been at the center of a criminal probe by Vance that alleges the company dodged taxes and gave perks to top executives for over 15 years.
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James’s investigation, a civil probe, alleges Trump’s company falsified the value of its assets in an attempt to receive tax and insurance benefits.
Trump has called the probes a politically motivated “witch hunt,” but they have not necessarily caused him to rethink a potential 2024 bid.
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According to a report from Axios last week, Trump may be eyeing November 14 as a date to announce a third run for the White House and has suggested that a decision on 2024 will be coming “very soon.”
