Former Trump Admin Aide Urges Republicans to ‘Stop Donating’ to the GOP

A former aide in Donald Trump’s administration, Olivia Troye, urged Republicans on Saturday to “stop donating” to the GOP as she criticized the Republican National Committee (RNC) for becoming a “Trump legal defense fund.”

The former president continues to face legal troubles. Trump was recently fined roughly $355 million, plus interest, by Judge Arthur Engoron in his New York civil fraud case, which accused him, his two adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, The Trump Organization and two firm executives of fraudulently overvaluing assets to secure more favorable bank loans and taxation deals. Trump has maintained his innocence in the case and claimed it was politically motivated, vowing to appeal the verdict.

Engoron’s judgment comes weeks after Trump was ordered to pay $83.3 million to former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll for damaging her reputation after she accused him of sexually assaulting her during an incident in the 1990s. A separate jury last year awarded Carroll $5 million from Trump for sexual abuse and defamation. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in those cases and vowed to appeal them as well.

In his case against Carroll, Trump on Friday posted a $91.6 million bond, which consisted of the $83.3 million judgment, along with statutory interest added by the State of New York.

Meanwhile, Ronna McDaniel officially stepped down from her position as the chairwoman of the RNC on Friday following months of mounting criticism of her performance in the role, particularly from Trump supporters. Since reports of McDaniel’s resignation, Trump endorsed his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, who is married to Eric, for the role of RNC co-chair. She was officially elected to the position on Friday.

Lara Trump has previously said that if she were elected to the position of co-chair, she would ensure that the RNC would use its “every penny” on working to reelect her father-in-law in November, sparking criticism from other Republicans that funds from the RNC will go towards paying for Trump’s legal expenses.

“If I am elected to this position, I can assure you there will not be any more $70,000, or whatever exorbitant amount of money it was, spent on flowers,” she previously told Newsmax. “Every single penny will go to the number one and the only job of the RNC. That is electing Donald J. Trump as the president of the United States.”

In an interview with MSNBC on Saturday, Troye, a former RNC staffer who served as a national security official during Trump’s administration and was a former aide to former Vice President Mike Pence, was asked by host José Díaz-Balart her views on the RNC now being run by former North Carolina Republican Party chairman Michael Whatley, a Trump loyalist and Lara Trump.

“I think it is horrific. I think the RNC, yes, they’ll support the presidential candidate, but they are supposed to be supporting Republicans across the board, Republican candidates. Instead, I feel like this is officially, overtly, become the Trump legal defense fund. So I would say to Republican voters and independents stop donating to the party because the candidates are not going to see that money—we know that,” Troye said.

She also warned Republicans on Saturday to think of where the funds are going.

“Think about where your funds are going and if you care about electing rational sane Republicans, focus on them directly maybe or turn away from what this is. This is just an enabler for Trump and it’s embarrassing,” she said.

Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s spokesperson via email and the RNC via online email form for comment.

Troye is not the first to take aim at the RNC amid concerns that it will fund Trump’s legal expenses. Nikki Haley, who was trailing Trump in the 2024 presidential run and has since dropped out of the race, criticized the RNC and warned the GOP in an interview with Fox News’ The Story With Martha MacCallum in late February.

“Look at what’s happening to the party, the RNC now before the primary is over, he is going in and has booted out the chair, he’s putting in his daughter-in-law, he’s putting in his campaign chairs as an operative, but more than that he’s pushing to have the RNC be just about him…and it’s all turning into his legal flush fund,” Haley said.

However, Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, said late last month that he won’t pay the former president’s legal expenses with funds from the RNC.