After the Washington Post reported Monday that the RNC is still paying Trump’s legal bills for his personal corruption shit in New York State that have nothing to do with politics or his time as president, CNN follows up with a Wednesday report detailing how “some RNC members and donors accused the party of running afoul of its own neutrality rules and misplacing its priorities. Some of these same officials who spoke to CNN also questioned why the party would foot the legal bills of a self-professed billionaire who was sitting on a $102 million war chest as recently as July and has previously used his various political committees to cover legal costs.”

“‘This is not normal. Nothing about this is normal, especially since he’s not only a former President but a billionaire,’ said a former top RNC official. ‘What does any of this have to do with assisting Republicans in 2022 or preparing for the 2024 primary?’ the official added. Another former RNC official, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, said ‘Trump helps them raise boatloads of money but he’s also likely to be a candidate for president and it’s only going to become more difficult for them to keep a distance,’ the official said, while also questioning why the RNC is ‘having to pay for this when you have these super PACs taking in unlimited money for Trump.’ A third RNC official described the relationship between Trump and the national party as ‘a hostage situation,’ claiming that Trump could devastate the GOP if he decided to leave the party or encouraged his supporters to stop contributing to it at any point, including if the RNC no longer agrees to cover portions of his legal bills. ‘They can’t disentangle themselves from him because they need him,'”