http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/trump-hammering-out-party-fundraising-agreement-222984 Trump aides huddle with RNC to plot big-money strategy
The presumptive nominee seeks to exert control over the Republican Party.
By Kenneth P. Vogel, Eli Stokols and Alex Isenstadt
05/09/16 05:26 PM EDT
Updated 05/09/16 06:17 PM EDT
Donald Trump’s campaign is hashing out details of an agreement with Republican Party leaders that could allow the presumptive GOP presidential nominee to raise six-figure checks for his campaign, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations have told POLITICO.
The fundraising agreement was among the subjects discussed at a Monday meeting of top Republican National Committee officials, including Chairman Reince Priebus, and senior Trump aides, including campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, senior adviser Paul Manafort and political director Rick Wiley, according to the sources. The meeting was held at the RNC’s Washington offices.
The talks represent the first formal steps toward a merger between the official apparatus of the party and a candidate whom many party leaders scorned until recently, and about whom there remains deep leeriness in some Republican quarters.
Since Trump essentially clinched the GOP nomination with a win in last week’s Indiana primary, his staff has moved quickly to put its stamp on the party’s general election planning process. Wiley has paid several visits to the party’s headquarters on Capitol Hill to assess its efforts, according to the sources. The campaign also has been discussing convention-related issues with the RNC, including credentials and rules, the sources said, adding that the campaign is expected in the coming days to formally deputize a staffer as a liaison to the national party committee.
And deputy campaign manager Michael Glassner this week is set to lead a delegation to the convention site, Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena, for a briefing from RNC officials involved in planning for the July event, as POLITICO first reported last week.
Fundraising was not a major focus of Monday’s meetings, according to RNC senior strategist Sean Spicer. “It was 3½ hours of briefings from all the RNC divisions regarding the capabilities and resources that we have been compiling to win in November,” said Spicer, who attended the meeting and said it included presentations on the party’s ground game, and its data, communications and research efforts.
The Trump campaign declined comment.
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