Trump daughter-in-law takes senior Republican Party role

The Republican National Committee has elected Donald Trump allies, including his daughter-in-law, to top leadership positions, tightening the former president’s grip over the party ahead of the November election.

Trump, 77, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, put forward a slate of hand-picked candidates last month to head the RNC, which raises funds for Republican candidates and doles out electoral cash.

Michael Whatley, the leader of the Republican Party in North Carolina, and Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump were elected respectively RNC chair and co-chair by voice vote at a meeting of the 168 RNC members in Houston.

Both were unopposed.

“The RNC is going to be the vanguard of a movement that will work tirelessly every single day to elect our nominee Donald J. Trump as the 47th president of the United States,” Whatley says in his acceptance speech.

“We will work relentlessly in every state to ensure that it is easy to vote and hard to cheat.”

Lara Trump, who is married to the former president’s middle son Eric, says the party has “one goal” on election day.

“The goal on November 5 is to win, as my father-in-law says, ‘bigly,'” she says. “This isn’t just about right versus left, Republican versus Democrat. It’s about good versus evil.”

The former president endorsed another ally, campaign strategist Chris LaCivita, to be the chief operating officer of the RNC.

“This group of three is highly talented, battle-tested, and smart,” Trump says in a statement.

He describes his daughter-in-law as “an extremely talented communicator” who is “dedicated to all that MAGA stands for,” a reference to his “Make America Great Again” slogan.