Ronna McDaniel was able to squeeze more than $100K from the RNC before she was forced out
Even as former Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Ronna McDaniel fights to receive a full payout from the six-figure NBC contract she signed before she was let go, she still enjoys a comfortable severance package from her time at the RNC.
McDaniel was paid $118,769.99 two days before Donald Trump's takeover of the RNC, where he placed his daughter-in-law Lara Trump in the position of co-chair. The sum was the largest single payout to McDaniel ever reported by the Committee, The Daily Beast reported.
McDaniel received regular biweekly payments ranging from about $5,000 to about $12,000 during her time at the RNC along with year-end fundraising bonuses, according to The Beast's report -- payments that dropped to just under $8,000 in recent months. Her salary came under criticism from insiders after the GOP suffered disappointing election performances in 2020 and the 2022 midterms.
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Before he took over, former North Carolina GOP chair Michael D. Whatley argued earlier this year during an RNC budget committee event in Las Vegas against lowering the RNC chair salary. The following Sunday, Donald Trump suggested that McDaniel should resign.
"Whatley collected his first RNC paycheck on March 29, in the amount of $19,920.07, more than McDaniel’s $17,799.98 regular monthly pay this year," The Beast reported. "A person with knowledge of the RNC’s payroll practices told The Daily Beast that Whatley’s first payment likely represented about three weeks’ of pro-rated salary, though net take-home pay also reflects individual choices, such as how much is rolled into a retirement account or paid into other benefit options."
Lara Trump's first payroll check was a little more than $10,700, which she also collected on March 29. But other pro-Trump figures who joined the Committee have not yet been named on the payroll. "While the new RNC leadership has centered its messaging on a combination of Trump-centric fundraising and budgetary cuts, the latest filings don’t yet reflect significant changes on either end," reported The Daily Beast.
Read the full report over at The Daily Beast.