Swing state Republicans bleed donors and cash over Trump's false election claims
Real estate mogul Ron Weiser has been one of the biggest donors to the Michigan Republican Party, giving $4.5 million in the recent midterm election cycle. But no more.
Weiser, former chair of the party, has halted his funding, citing concerns about the organization's stewardship. He says he doesn't agree with Republicans who promote falsehoods about election results and insists it's "ludicrous" to claim Donald Trump, who lost Michigan by 154,000 votes in 2020, carried the state.
"I question whether the state party has the necessary expertise to spend the money well," he said.
The Arizona party spent more than $300,000 on "legal consulting" fees last year, according to its federal filings, which do not specify the type of legal work paid for.
In that period, legal fees were paid to a firm that had filed lawsuits seeking to overturn Trump's defeat in Arizona, according to separate campaign and legal disclosures. Money was also paid to attorneys who represented Kelli Ward, the former party chair when the Justice Department subpoenaed her over her involvement in a plan to falsely certify to Congress that Trump, and not Democratic President Joe Biden, had won Arizona, plus when a congressional committee subpoenaed her phone records.
More than $500,000 was also spent in Arizona on an election night party and a bus tour for statewide Trump-backed candidates last year, the financial filings show. All of those candidates, who supported the former president's election-steal claims, lost in last November's midterms.
Swing state Republicans bleed donors and cash over Trump's false election claims
Real estate mogul Ron Weiser has been one of the biggest donors to the Michigan Republican Party, giving $4.5 million in the recent midterm election cycle. "I question whether the state party has the necessary expertise to spend the money well," he said. The withdrawal of bankrollers like...