Republicans say they will STOP paying Trump’s legal fees for election lawsuits if he runs

Republicans will stop paying Donald Trump‘s legal expenses if he announces he’s running for president in 2024, according to a new report published on Thursday.

The Republican National Committee has shelled out millions of dollars to law firms representing the former president amid government investigations and probes of his business interests.

But officials also worry that Trump could hurt the party’s midterms prospects if he announces a presidential run before this year’s elections.

An RNC official told ABC News that Trump would lose financial support as soon as launch a campaign because of the party’s ‘neutrality policy’ that bars it from taking sides in primaries. 

RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel spelled out the stance in an interview in January.

‘The party has to stay neutral,’ she said. ‘I’m not telling anybody to run or not to run in 2024.’

Senior Republicans say they want Trump to delay any announcement until after the midterms. 

Donald Trump has frequently trailed the idea of running again in 2024, but a Republican National Committee official told ABC News that a run would choke off cash for his legal fees

Ronna McDaniel, RNC chairwoman, said in January that it had a policy of neutrality, which meant it could not favor any runners for the Republican presidential nomination

Trump faces legal jeopardy from multiple directions, including the House January 6 committee which is building a case that the former president was responsible for the attack on the Capitol

However, insiders say the former president likes the idea of upending the elections by launching his campaign before voters go to the polls in November.

That could change the nature of the midterms from being a referendum on the crisis-hit presidency of Joe Biden, into giving voters a choice between Biden and Trump.

House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy said this week that he had encouraged Trump to delay any announcement.

‘My point to him has always been, ‘Let’s go win ’22,'” he told Congressional reporters on Tuesday.

Reminding Trump that any announcement will hit him in the pocket, with no more legal subsidies, might be one way to make him think again about an early decision.

The RNC’s latest financial disclosures reveal the depth of the support.

From October 2021 through June, the RNC paid at least $1.73 million to law firms representing Trump, according to details filed with the Federal Elections Commission and reported by ABC News. 

That included $50,000 to a law firm representing Trump in June alone. 

That financial report has led some Republicans to question whether the RNC is really playing fair.

Donor and Canary LLC chief executive said that had been little effort to stay neutral.

‘The RNC needs Trump or Trump surrogates or Trump’s likeness to raise money, and Trump wants them to continue paying his bills and be as pro-Trump as possible,’ Eberhart said. “So neither is in a hurry to cut the umbilical cord.”

Trump has repeatedly hinted that he wants to take another tilt at the White House.

The latest came during a speech in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, when he talked about a Republican returning to the presidency.

‘They want to damage me so I cannot go back to work for you,’ Trump said as his audience chanted ‘four more years.’

‘And I don’t think that’s going to happen.’

RNC support – which includes using the Trump name in fundraising emails – also makes it harder for other 2024 possibles.

‘Other Republican candidates seeking the Republican nomination for president have good reason to worry that the party apparatus is rigged against them in its unwavering support for Trump,’ said Craig Holman, of government-watchdog group Public Citizen. 

RNC officials and Trump’s representatives declined to comment.