As Donald Trump’s MAGA RNC Leaders Michael Whatley and Lara Trump prepare to speak at the North Carolina GOP convention this weekend, DNC Spokesperson Aida Ross released the following statement: 

“Donald Trump hand-picked Michael Whatley and Lara Trump to lead the RNC because above all, he knows he can count on them to push lies about the 2020 election and back him up as he refuses to commit to accepting this November’s results. Now, Trump’s deploying Whatley and Lara Trump on an anti-freedom, anti-democracy, conspiracy-theory trip to North Carolina to spread his toxic agenda. Under Whatley and Lara Trump, the RNC will keep doing what they do best: ensure that Trump’s desperate campaign and extreme agenda will deliver them embarrassing losses across the country in November.”

Donald Trump elevated notorious election deniers Lara Trump and Michael Whatley to lead the RNC as part of his MAGA takeover. 

New York Times: “Mr. Trump likes Mr. Whatley for one overwhelming reason, according to people who have discussed him with the former president: He is ‘a stop the steal guy,’ as one of the people described him. He endorses Mr. Trump’s false claims about mass voter fraud … Mr. Whatley has baselessly claimed that election security efforts from Republicans in North Carolina stopped Democrats from cheating.”

CNN: “People seeking employment at RNC asked whether they believe the 2020 election was stolen”

New York Times: “Trump’s Man at the R.N.C. Will Face Pressure to Satisfy His Election Lies”

New York Magazine: “Trump Taps Election Deniers Lara Trump, Michael Whatley to Lead RNC”

Associated Press: “In pushing Michael Whatley as the next leader of the Republican National Committee, Donald Trump zeroed in on the North Carolina GOP chairman’s dedication to ‘election integrity,’ baselessly suggesting he would ensure the 2024 race ‘can’t be stolen.”

Michael Whatley has consistently pushed the Big Lie, and Trump has made clear he’s counting on Whatley to push election denialism and conspiracies heading into this year’s election.

Washington Post: “Trump repeated his false claims of the 2020 election being stolen and said that Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley was the most important person in the room because he is ‘going to stop the cheating.’

“‘We call it save the vote, guard the vote, stop the steal,’ he said, referring to what the RNC needed to be doing. The RNC has launched a program called ‘Bank Your Vote’ to bring in early votes.”

CNN: “Likely frontrunner for RNC chair parroted Trump’s 2020 election lies”

“Michael Whatley, the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, shared false claims that Republican observers were prevented from accessing polling locations and repeatedly said Democratic cities in swing states were engaged in ‘massive fraud.’”

“His elevation to RNC chair could give Trump a loyalist more willing to devote resources to pursue future voter fraud claims in court should they arise.”

“‘Regardless of how these lawsuits come out around the country with the presidential race we do know that there was massive fraud that took place,’ Whatley said in one late November 2020 interview on local North Carolina radio. ‘We know that it took place in places like Milwaukee and Detroit and Philadelphia.’”

Raleigh News & Observer: “Whatley has frequently repeated Trump’s false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.”

Vice: “North Carolina Republican chair Michael Whatley falsely claimed in February that ‘we certainly saw evidence of voting irregularities, of election counting irregularities in a number of places around the country,’ and invented the claim that the reason Trump won North Carolina was his state party’s vigilance against Democrats’ attempts to cheat.”

Lara Trump is a self-described “ultra-MAGA” extremist who continues to push baseless lies about the 2020 election.

Allan Smith, NBC News: “Lara Trump, embracing ‘ultra-MAGA’ label, says it’s ‘nothing to be ashamed of’”

CNN: “RNC under Lara Trump spreads ‘massive fraud’ claims about 2020 election”

Media Matters: “On her podcast, RNC co-chair Lara Trump says she doesn’t believe 81 million people voted for President Joe Biden in the 2020 election” 

Lara Trump: “Because here’s the goal, folks. I don’t ever – and I know you don’t either – want to repeat 2020 and the atrocities of that election ever again.”

Lara Trump at the CA GOP Convention: “The bulk of the staff you will see in our building is focused solely on election integrity. Because let’s be honest, we can never repeat 2020 ever again. We’re never going to do that.”

Lara Trump ahead of January 6: “We want to make sure that if there is a contested vote, anybody who doesn’t want to certify the votes for Joe Biden, that they get their chance to debate that.”