PHOENIX – Republican National Committee Chairman Harmeet Dhillon continued his attacks on the party’s well-paid consultants Tuesday — despite receiving $1.3 million in RNC payments to his law firm over the past four years.
“They’re so married to that sweet, sweet money,” she said from the stage at the conservative youth group Turning Point USA’s “America Fest” conference. “They get paid whether they win or lose. Now I run a small business. I am a partner in a law firm that I founded. We don’t get paid if we win or lose. They get paid whether they do a good job or not. Most of us don’t.
“If our money is not going to the candidates, it must go to the grassroots activists. That will be my commitment as party president,” he added.
What Dhillon didn’t mention at the event, however, is that his company has been paid $1,333,967 by the RNC since appearing at former President Donald Trump’s “social media” summit at the White House in July 2019. according to a HuffPost analysis of federal elections. Commission files.
Dhillon now also represents the former president who attempted a coup and received $360,575 from his various political committees. He had received no money from either the RNC or Trump before his White House speech.
Dhillon did not respond to a HuffPost question about whether his contracts with the RNC condition payment on success or whether he was paid regardless of the outcome.
Only six other law firms have received more from the RNC over the past four years, including powerhouses such as Jones Day and McGuireWoods. Dhillon Law Group, on the other hand, advertises itself as a “boutique” firm and has a total of 21 attorneys.
In total, the RNC spent $1.2 billion as of January 1, 2019. Of that, $50.8 million went to 169 law firms for legal work and $93.1 million went to 72 companies and individuals classified as consultants.
Of the latter group, only 13 firms have received more than Dhillon Law Group over the past four years.
An ally of Dhillon’s, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said her work for the NCR, which includes defending staff and members accused in the January 6 inquiry, was well worth the money she was given.
“He’s the best conservative election lawyer in the country,” the ally said, adding that Dhillon has already vowed not to take another legal job if he becomes president. “Give up a lot of money.”
Spokespeople for current RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, who is running for a fourth two-year term, did not respond to questions from HuffPost.
A McDaniel ally, who also spoke only on condition of anonymity, said Dhillon’s attacks on McDaniel, party staff and aides were off base.
“If Harmeet Dhillon spent less time on TV as a TV lawyer, he would know that the RNC is already decentralized with 56 party states in every state and territory,” said ally McDaniel. “Not only was what she said an extraordinary insult to the state parties and their local or county parties, but what she is proposing would actually increase the power of the RNC chair by making her accountable not to the state parties , but before the government. outside the current RNC. That would make her a kind of supreme leader or republican pope.”
But access to television and the Internet was central to Dhillon’s strategy to expand the RNC race beyond the 168 committee members to the base of grassroots Republican activists.
He announced his candidacy on Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s show earlier this month. The next day, he went on the Steve Bannon podcast. On Monday night, she appeared on YouTube celebrity Tim Pool’s show, which she produced from the TPUSA stage.
“Only a handful of members of the Republican National Committee are active on social media,” he said in his remarks the next morning. “They couldn’t pick any of the influencers if their lives depended on it. This is the question.”
TPUSA, which has seen a surge in fundraising and influence since founder Charlie Kirk aligned himself with Trump in 2016, has relentlessly polled its participants in recent days and announced Tuesday that Dhillon had beaten McDaniel 58 percent to at 2%, with cushion. Election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell received 31%, and 10% had no opinion.
Dhillon asked the audience of several thousand to contact their state’s RNC members on his behalf. “Ask your state party leadership for a poll on who should be the next leader of the RNC,” he said.
Dhillon’s main message, which he repeated in Phoenix, was that he is “tired of losing” and that McDaniel and NCR have lost the most in the last three elections.
“Our party was on and on and on,” she said. The “Red Sea” did not occur.
Dhillon, like most Republicans, did not identify Trump as the reason for these repeated losses. His unpopularity led to a Democratic takeover of the House in 2018. He then lost the White House in 2020 and then effectively sabotaged two Georgia Senate races in January 2021 by telling voters the election was rigged. This gave control of the Senate to the Democrats.
Trump’s insistence that GOP candidates spread their campaign lies or face their wrath ahead of the 2022 midterm elections has led to candidates winning nominations but then collapsing in the general election. Republicans lost five of seven close Senate races with “Trump” candidates, several gubernatorial races and even a number of House races, including a heavily pro-Trump district in Washington state.
Trump also raised $85 million for himself from small donors, even as GOP candidates were cash-hungry against their Democratic opponents.
Trump, who continues to lie about the 2020 election, is being criminally investigated by the Department of Justice and Georgia prosecutors in connection with the January 6, 2021 coup attempt to remain in power and for his various efforts leading up to until that day. He is also being investigated by the DOJ for removing confidential documents from the White House and keeping them at his Mar-a-Lago social club in Florida, even defying a subpoena ordering him to hand them over.
Despite this, he is again running for president and retains the loyalty of a sizable segment of the Republican primary voting base.
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