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Former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel is fighting for full payment of her unfulfilled six-figure NBC contract, but at least she has a financial cushion from the RNC to fall back on.
According to disclosures most recently filed with the Federal Election Commission, McDaniel received $110,000 on March 6, two days before President Donald Trump's takeover of the RNC removed the hand-picked former chairman. He said he received a payment of $8,769.99. The amount is the single largest amount owed to Mr. McDaniel ever reported by the commission, and nearly half of his total regular salary income for the past year, according to those records.
A person familiar with the RNC told The Daily Beast that a typical severance package includes a contracted or negotiated severance package, as well as payment of unused vacation pay, expense reimbursement and other unused benefits. Told.
During her seven years leading the RNC, McDaniel received a regular biweekly paycheck ranging from about $5,000 to about $12,000, but as criticism of her pay grew last year, that amount increased to $8,900 in recent months. The dollar declined. She also frequently receives year-end bonuses and fundraising bonuses that the RNC's budget committee voted to approve, according to data analysis, with her highest single payment coming in January 2023. The award was said to have been about $43,000, which was given to him during his first fight for internal chairmanship. .
The failure of this insurrection may have something to do with the steady decline in McDaniel's take-home pay since then, reflecting the spending reforms the RNC promised after McDaniel fended off a right-wing challenge. There is a possibility that it is.
Her pay has been one of the hot spots in the RNC budget following disappointing election results in the 2020 and 2022 midterm elections, with insiders hoping for a change in leadership, though not necessarily well-intentioned. received criticism from.
But when that change finally happened this year, the pay cut was clearly not a start for McDaniel's replacement.
As fate would have it, his successor — former North Carolina Republican Party chairman and Beltway lobbyist Michael D. Whatley — personally opposed the chairman's pay cut shortly before taking office, according to people familiar with the negotiations. told The Daily Beast.
Whatley made that claim when the issue came up at an RNC budget committee meeting in Las Vegas earlier this year. The budget committee's consensus was to cut the salary of the RNC's next pick for chairman, sparing McDaniel from the discussion due to a potential conflict of interest. But Mr. Whatley was one of the only voices at the meeting opposing the pay cut, a position that was soon cast in new light by the immediate developments, according to people familiar with the matter.
The following Sunday, President Trump privately suggested for the first time that McDaniel should resign. McDaniel made a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago the next day, but things took a turn for the worse—that week. new york times She reported hearing the call and stepping aside. By the end of the week, party insiders had already put Mr Whatley's name at the top of the list to succeed him.
Mr. Whatley received his first RNC paycheck on March 29 for $19,920.07, which was more than Mr. McDaniel's regular monthly salary of $17,799.98 this year. A person familiar with the RNC's payroll practices told The Daily Beast that Mr. Whatley's first payment will likely be equivalent to about three weeks' worth of prorated pay, but his net take-home pay will include how much will be put into a retirement account. He said that it also reflects individual choices. or paid for other benefit options.
Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, who took over as RNC co-chair last month, received her first paycheck of more than $10,700 on the same day. However, the name of the RNC's new operations chief, former Trump adviser Chris Lacivita, is not yet on the payroll. So is Christina Bobb, a Trump adviser who was recently appointed head of the RNC's election integrity division. (Bob was indicted this week in Arizona for his alleged role in the state's sham election scheme.)
The RNC's new leadership has focused its messaging on a combination of Trump-centered fundraising and budget cuts, but the latest filings do not yet reflect any major changes on either side.
On the spending side, the RNC's operating budget actually increased by nearly $1.2 million month-over-month, according to the latest filings. Notable expenses include a battalion of outside consultants and his $250,000 down payment on the Four Seasons Palm Beach, which is expected in connection with his planned May gala. This is the first of several expenses. The down payment for the Four Seasons is higher than the $239,750 the RNC sent to the state Republican Party committee during the same period.
The Daily Beast sent detailed questions to the RNC about this story, including a discussion of Whatley's salary. In response, RNC spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt issued a statement highlighting the positives in the fundraising data, particularly the “support.” [Trump’s] They have contributed “more than $120 million” to joint Trump-RNC efforts since Trump claimed the nomination last month.
“Team Trump will continue to raise the funds necessary to defeat Crooked Joe Biden on November 5th,” Levitt said in a statement. The statement did not mention Whatley.
RNC officials also pointed to grassroots power and claimed the average online donation is about $27, but they are not sure which committees are included in that data or what time period is factored into the average. was not immediately obvious. (A wall street journal This week's analysis showed that Biden actually overtook Trump in small-spend approval ratings. )
Still, Trump's first criminal trial appears to be benefiting from donors, with the former president's empowered committee raising an average of $1 million a day during the trial so far. officials said, but ironically, this was predicated on illegal campaign financing.
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Former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel appears on “Meet the Press.”
Photo by William B. Plowman/NBC via Getty Images
But a closer look at the RNC's own filings reveals some persistent hidden weaknesses. The party reported a significant increase in receipts and cash on hand last month, raising about $20.6 million, thanks largely to the joint chest potential unlocked after Trump became the nominee. reported. But much of that cash came from large donors rather than small donations. And because of federal contribution limits, only $1.3 million of the much-hyped Community Chest transfers went to the RNC's campaign account, with nearly $9 million in a supplementary account that nominally cannot be used for political activities. was sent to.
Either way, McDaniel's pay will help her navigate between roles.
Shortly after his resignation, McDaniel joined NBC News as a political analyst as part of the station's efforts to include diverse perspectives. She gave only her one interview. meet the press Host Kristin Welker doubled down on her criticism of NBC's decision to hire an election analyst who was complicit in Trumpworld's lies about the 2020 election results.
Her critics include on-air talent who have shared their frustrations with viewers, including Welker's predecessor Chuck Todd, who said McDaniel “has credibility issues that still have to be addressed. “I'm holding it,” he said in one corner.
“You wouldn't hire a pickpocket to work as a TSA screener,” said prime-time host Rachel Maddow. “So I think her decision to put her on her payroll is puzzling.”
Less than a week later, McDaniel resigned again, with the NBCUniversal News Group chairman telling staff in a memo that she would not remain a contributor after all. However, she could earn quite a bit in her short tenure. McDaniel will still be paid her full contract bonus ($300,000 a year for two years), and she is considering legal action to ensure she receives it, according to multiple media reports. It is being
