WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump on Monday endorsed Michael Whatley to be the next head of the Republican National Committee and backed his daughter-in-law Lara Trump as co-chair.
Trump has previously indicated that it was time for RNC chair Ronna McDaniel to step aside, but has also said that he would make recommendations after the South Carolina primary, on Feb. 24, about changes at the RNC.
“I think my friend Michael Whatley should be the RNC’s next leader,” Trump said in a statement, adding that he “has been with me from the beginning, has done a great job in his home state of North Carolina.”
Whatley is chairman of the North Carolina Republican party.
The former president also said that his daughter-in-law Lara Trump “has agreed to run as the RNC co-chair.” Lara Trump is married to Eric Trump and served as a senior campaign adviser to the Trump campaign in 2020. She often appears as an on-air surrogate for the 2024 campaign.
“Lara is an extremely talented communicator and is dedicated to all that MAGA stands for,” Trump said in his statement. “She has told me she wants to accept this challenge and would be GREAT!”
NBC News has reached out to Lara Trump for comment.
In a statement Monday night, an RNC spokesman said that McDaniel “has been on the road helping elect Republicans up and down the ballot and she will continue working hard to beat Biden this fall.”
“Nothing has changed, and there will be no decision or announcement about future plans until after South Carolina,” said RNC spokesman Keith Schipper.
“Anyone working there that didn’t think it was going to happen, which there are some, isn’t ground in reality,” a former RNC official said. “But when you have people who have worked there for eight years or more, they aren’t in the real world.”
In Trump’s statement Monday, he also said that he has asked Chris LaCivita to be the RNC’s chief operating officer. LaCivita is a senior adviser to the Trump campaign and said he would maintain his position on the campaign as well.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
