According to financial information made public by OpenSecrets.org, Ronna Romney McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, gave her leading opponent in the race approximately $900,000.

According to financial documents obtained by OpenSecrets, the RNC under McDaniel paid the Virginia-based Dhillon Law Group, which is led by Harmeet Dhillon, who is challenging McDaniel for the party’s leadership, $892,550 in legal bills from March 2021 to August 2022.

Earlier last month, Dhillon, a Californian RNC committeewoman, declared that she would challenge McDaniel for the position.

Each expense was listed as being for “Legal and Compliance Services,” which most likely relates to court-related legal expenses. The Daily Caller News Foundation was not able to identify the precise legal services that the company had rendered in exchange for each payment.

According to the firm’s website, Dhillon Law Group has defended the RNC in a number of legal actions, most prominently in RNC v. Google, a federal court case in the Eastern District of California that accuses Google of preventing Republicans from trying to reach their electorate by sending RNC mass-marketing emails to users’ Gmail spam folders.

The RNC needs a total revamp. We are not innovating, we are not leading, we are not WINNING, and our messaging is not clear – the RNC needs new leadership, energy, and a grassroots-focused, not a DC-centric, top-down-consultant-driven, approach. pic.twitter.com/q6chW29nRB

— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) December 8, 2022

Despite rarely mentioning McDaniel by name, Dhillon’s campaign for the party presidency has centered on purported shortcomings under her leadership. According to Dhillon’s program, the RNC’s internal legal team will be strengthened, litigation against Democrats and state officials will be defended, and most party employees and retained consultants would be replaced with teams based outside of Washington, D.C.

Dhillon declared her candidacy on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on December 7. “Republicans are tired of losing and I think that we really need to radically reshape our leadership in order to win,” she stated.

“The party has become a populist party. The base of the party demands populist messages that speak to them and not Chamber of Commerce messages, not neocon messages, not warmonger messages.” she continued.

Other contenders for the chairmanship have criticized Dhillon’s firm for taking funds from the RNC.

“She is protecting the cash. If she becomes chair, she could still ship cash to the law firm and use the perch to increase the profile and drive even more cash to the firm,” former Trump White House aide Mike McKenna has declared his campaign for RNC chairman in a Washington Times article, according to the DCNF.

More on this story via The Western Journal:

The payments to Dhillon’s firm from the RNC under McDaniel are not the only direct links to her. In November, McDaniel established a committee of experts to review the party’s failures to make outreach to Asian, black, Latino and suburban women voters.

Dhillon named co-chairwoman of that committee.

Dhillon’s bid has, so far, received tepid support from the RNC’s 168 committee members, who elect the chairman. Several committee members representing Virginia and Vermont have pledged to support her on Twitter. CONTINUE READING…