共和党领导人担心唐纳德·特朗普据一名RNC官员称，过早宣布总统竞选可能会损害他们的中期机会，他们希望他会因为可能会损失数十万美元的法律费用而放弃这样做。
自2021年10月以来，共和党全国委员会已向代表特朗普的律师事务所作为他对个人诉讼和政府调查的辩护。
但一名RNC官员告诉美国广播公司新闻，一旦特朗普宣布他将竞选总统，这些款项就会停止，因为该党有一项“中立政策”，禁止其在总统初选中偏袒任何一方。
今年1月，RNC主席罗娜·麦克丹尼尔说，“该党必须保持中立。”
“我不会告诉任何人在2024年竞选或不竞选，”她补充道。然而，她后来重申，特朗普“仍然领导着该党”。
RNC官员不会对这个故事的记录发表评论。特朗普的代表也拒绝置评。
这不是法律法案第一次被视为对特朗普的可能杠杆。
根据美国广播公司(ABC)驻华盛顿首席记者乔纳森·卡尔(Jonathan Karl)所著的《背叛:特朗普秀的最后一幕》(retailation:The Final Act of The Trump Show)，在特朗普总统任期的最后几天，特朗普告诉麦克丹尼尔，他将离开共和党，创建自己的政党——但在麦克丹尼尔向特朗普明确表示该党将放弃后，他放弃了这一想法停止支付他的法律费用并采取其他会让他付出经济代价的措施。
特朗普和麦克丹尼尔都否认了这个故事。
根据RNC向联邦选举委员会提交的最新财务披露，从2021年10月到今年6月，RNC向代表特朗普的三家律师事务所支付了至少173万美元，其中包括在对他在纽约州的个人家族企业的调查中为他辩护的事务所。仅上个月，RNC就在6月份向一家代表川普的律师事务所支付了5万美元。
据报道，共和党执行委员会去年在RNC的一次会议上投票支持特朗普的个人法律账单，最新的数字超过了160万美元的最高数字。去年12月首次报道该协议的《华盛顿邮报》写道，随着共和党执行委员会的批准，这一数字可能会进一步增加。
RNC报告称，直到6月中旬，还向代表特朗普的律师事务所支付了款项，这表明该党领导层对这位前总统的无拘无束的支持，并加剧了批评者对该党在2024年总统初选前的中立性的担忧。
“我不认为有任何努力”RNC保持中立，长期共和党捐助者和金丝雀有限责任公司首席执行官丹·埃伯哈特告诉美国广播公司新闻。“这是一种共生关系。”
“RNC需要特朗普或特朗普的代理人或特朗普的肖像来筹集资金，特朗普希望他们继续支付他的账单，并尽可能支持特朗普，”埃伯哈特说。"所以两者都不急于切断脐带."
RNC继续在给支持者的电子邮件中以特朗普的名义筹款，兜售所谓的“特朗普终身会员”，推动他的社交媒体平台，最近还宣传特朗普自去年1月以来首次访问华盛顿特区。专家表示，其他潜在的2024年总统候选人和党内关键人物，如前副总统迈克·彭斯和佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯，都没有受到像川普一样的关注。
埃伯哈特表示，川普和RNC之间目前的关系使其他潜在的2024年总统候选人处于“绝对劣势”
“其他寻求共和党总统候选人提名的共和党候选人有充分的理由担心，党的机器在坚定不移地支持特朗普方面对他们不利，”进步政府监督组织公共公民的政府事务说客克雷格·霍尔曼附和道。
Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel gives remarks to a packed room at the opening of the RNC's new Hispanic Community Center in Suwanee, Ga., on June 29, 2022.
本·格雷/美联社
霍尔曼说:“通过支付特朗普的大量法律账单，RNC间接帮助资助了特朗普的竞选活动。”“鉴于RNC积极捍卫特朗普的历史，其他共和党候选人应该预计到，他们不仅是在与特朗普竞选，他们也是在与共和党竞选。”
埃伯哈特说，共和党内“没有人希望特朗普在中期选举结束前宣布参选，这是一个公开的秘密。”
“每个人都认为这会扰乱中期选举，如果特朗普过早宣布，我们可能会破坏我们的优势”，埃伯哈特说。“这让特朗普变得更加相关，并给民主党提供了一种重置竞选的潜在方式。”
RNC发言人艾玛·沃恩(Emma Vaughn)拒绝就RNC最近向代表特朗普的公司支付法律款项一事发表评论，此前她对美国广播公司新闻频道(ABC News)表示，“作为我们党的领导人，捍卫特朗普总统及其成就记录对共和党至关重要。”
“RNC继续协助反击民主党无休止的政治迫害和对他的攻击是完全合适的，”沃恩在1月份回答有关该党早些时候为特朗普支付法律款项的问题时告诉美国广播公司新闻。
共和党委员会将特朗普的合法付款描述为对前总统反对针对他的政治攻击的支持。但代表特朗普获得报酬的三家公司中，至少有两家公司代表前总统参与了纽约总检察长和曼哈顿地区检察官对其个人业务的调查。
尽管两位官员都是民主党人，但他们都表示，他们的调查没有政治动机。
总共支付给这三家公司的170万美元中，包括支付给内切尔斯劳all公司的86.2万美元，支付给菲谢蒂公司的51.6万美元RNC的披露文件显示，该公司还向范德维恩、哈特肖恩和莱文支付了35万美元。最近的付款是50，440美元给Fischetti& 6月中旬马杰里·LLP，5月份186，182美元卖给内切尔斯劳·LLP。
两个人都不喜欢LLP，费舍提&玛吉里·LLP或范德维恩、哈特肖恩和莱文回应了ABC新闻的置评请求。
据报道，RNC没有报道特朗普与众议院特别委员会调查1月6日国会大厦袭击事件有关的法律法案。但是作为此前由ABC新闻报道特朗普领导的政治行动委员会(PAC)、拯救美国(Save America)和他的总统委员会(presidential committee)成立的政治行动委员会(Make America Great Again)一直在为参与1月6日事件相关法律诉讼的证人支付法律费用，这引起了1月6日委员会成员和法律专家对证人胁迫的担忧。
监督组织说客霍尔曼说，已经向政府道德办公室提出了管理行政部门官员和候选人法律费用基金的规定。提案中包括实施捐款限额、禁止某些资金来源以及要求完全公开资金来源和使用方式的规定。
霍尔曼说:“然而，在OGE敲定这些规则之前，特朗普和RNC在法律上几乎可以为特朗普的法律困境做任何他们想做的事情，并在很大程度上回避对这些资金的来源和支出进行有意义的披露。”
RNC warning to Trump: If you run for president, we stop paying your legal bills, says official
Republican leaders who worry thatDonald Trumpcould hurt their midterm chances by announcing a presidential run too soon are hoping he'll be dissuaded from doing so by the prospect of losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal payments, according to an RNC official.
Since October 2021, the Republican National Committee has paid nearly $2 million tolaw firms representing Trumpas part of his defense against personal litigation and government investigations.
But an RNC official told ABC News that as soon as Trump would announce he is running for president, the payments would stop because the party has a "neutrality policy" that prohibits it from taking sides in the presidential primary.
In January, RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said, "The party has to stay neutral."
"I'm not telling anybody to run or not to run in 2024," she added. However she has since reaffirmed that Trump "still leads the party."
RNC officials would not comment on the record for this story. Representatives for Trump also declined to comment.
This isn't the first time that legal bills have been seen as possible leverage over Trump.
According to the book "Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show," by ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl, in the final days of Trump's presidency, Trump told McDaniel he was leaving the GOP and creating his own political party -- only to back down after McDaniel made it clear to Trump that the party wouldstop paying his legal billsfor his post-election challenges and take other steps that would cost him financially.
Both Trump and McDaniel have denied the story.
According to the RNC's most recent financial disclosure to the Federal Elections Commission, from October 2021 through June of this year, the RNC paid at least $1.73 million to three law firms representing Trump, including firms that are defending him in investigations into his personal family business in New York. Last month alone, the RNC paid $50,000 to a law firm representing Trump in June.
The latest tally tops the $1.6 million maximum figure that the Republican Party's executive committee reportedly voted to cover for Trump's personal legal bills during an RNC meeting last year, a figure that The Washington Post, which first reported on the agreement in December, wrote could increase further with the party executive committee's approval.
The RNC reported payments to law firms representing Trump as recently as mid-June, indicating the party leadership's unfettered support for the former president and heightening critics' concerns about the party's neutrality ahead of the 2024 presidential primary season.
"I don't think there's been any effort" by the RNC to remain neutral, longtime Republican donor and Canary LLC CEO Dan Eberhart told ABC News. "This is a symbiotic relationship."
"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."
The RNC has continued to fundraise off of Trump's name in its emails to supporters, touting a so-called "Trump Life Membership," boosting his social media platform, and, most recently, promoting Trump's first visit to Washington, D.C., since January of last year. Other potential 2024 presidential candidates and key party figures like former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have not received the same spotlight as Trump, experts say.
Eberhart said the current relationship between Trump and the RNC is putting other potential 2024 presidential candidates at an "absolute disadvantage."
"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," echoed Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist at the progressive government-watchdog group Public Citizen.
"By paying Trump's extensive legal bills, the RNC is indirectly helping finance the Trump campaign," Holman said. "And given the history of the RNC zealously defending Trump, other Republican candidates should expect that they are not just running against Trump, they are also running against the Republican Party."
Eberhart said "it's an open secret" within the Republican Party that "nobody wants Trump to announce his candidacy until after the midterms."
"Everyone thinks it'll scramble the midterms and we could potentially destroy the advantage we have" if Trump would announce too early, Eberhart said. "It makes Trump more relevant and gives the Dems potentially a way to reset the race."
RNC spokesperson Emma Vaughn, who declined to comment on the RNC's recent legal payments to firms representing Trump, had previously told ABC News that "as a leader of our party, defending President Trump and his record of achievement is critical to the GOP."
"It is entirely appropriate for the RNC to continue assisting in fighting back against the Democrats' never-ending witch hunt and attacks on him," Vaughn told ABC News in January, in response to questions about the party's earlier legal payments for Trump.
The Republican Party committee has described the legal payments for Trump as support for the former president against political attacks against him. But at least two of the three firms that have been paid on behalf of Trump are involved in legal work on behalf of the former president regarding investigations against his personal businesses by the New York attorney general and Manhattan district attorney.
Although both officials are Democrats, they have both said their probes are not politically motivated.
In all, the $1.7 million paid in total to the three firms includes more than $862,000 paid to NechelesLaw LLP, $516,000 paid to Fischetti& Malgieri LLP, and $350,000 paid to van der Veen, Hartshorn and Levin, the RNC's disclosure filings show. The most recent payments are $50,440 to Fischetti& Malgieri LLP in mid-June and $186,182 to NechelesLaw LLP in May.
Neither NechelesLaw LLP, Fischetti& Malgieri LLP, or van der Veen, Hartshorn and Levin responded to ABC News' requests for comment.
The RNC is reportedly not covering Trump's legal bills related to the House special committee's investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. But aspreviously reported by ABC News, Trump's leadership PAC, Save America, and his presidential committee-turned-PAC Make America Great Again PAC have been footing legal bills for witnesses involved in legal battles related to the events of Jan. 6, which has raised concerns about witness coercion from Jan. 6 committee members and legal experts.
Holman, the watchdog group lobbyist, said regulations that would govern legal expense funds for executive branch officials and candidates have been proposed to the Office of Government Ethics. Among the proposals are regulations that would enforce contribution limits, prohibit certain funding sources, and require the full disclosure of where money comes from and how it is spent.
"Until OGE finalizes these rules, however, Trump and the RNC legally can do almost whatever they want to pay for Trump's legal woes and largely evade meaningful disclosure of the sources and expenditures of these funds," Holman said.
