RNC announces post-election layoffs

The Republican National Committee (RNC) is cutting its staff in the wake of Election Day even as it works to help President Trump contest the results of the election. 

A spokesperson with RNC told The Hill that the party is “downsizing,” noting that it is “typical procedure” for a party committee after an election. 

“We will have all the resources we need for litigation and recounts, as well as the critical runoffs in Georgia to hold the Senate,” the spokesperson said. “The RNC will pursue every instance of voting irregularity or fraud to the fullest extent.”

CNN first reported the development on Tuesday, noting that most layoffs occurred in the RNC-Trump victory fund, the committee’s joint fundraising effort to the Trump campaign. Most of the jobs were allegedly just supposed to last through the election. 

It is unclear how many RNC staffers were let go, but one source told CNN it is a “large portion.”

The Trump campaign has also begun laying people off after last week’s election.

Multiple news outlets declared President-elect Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election on Saturday, though Trump has refused to concede. His reelection campaign has mounted multiple legal challenges in several states, attempting to call for recounts or to have portions of the mail-in vote reexamined. 

Meanwhile, the Trump campaign and RNC are both aggressively fundraising as these legal challenges get underway, and RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has defended the president’s baseless claim that the election was stolen from him. 

During a press conference on Monday, McDaniel and White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany cited anecdotes about voting irregularities in Nevada and Michigan, where Biden currently leads in vote totals, and insisted that officials were not given adequate access to view votes being counted in Pennsylvania. 

McDaniel said that officials would pursue all legal avenues but admitted it may not be enough to challenge the results of the election. 

“Is it going to be enough? We don’t know. Is it going to take time? Yes,” she said.