'Never trust him': Former GOP governor slams Trump’s top pick for RNC chair

This week, former President Donald Trump called on Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Ronna McDaniel to step down from her position so she can be replaced with Trump loyalists. That proposal is reportedly making some Republicans uneasy.

The Associated Press reported that the former president wants two co-chairs to lead the RNC — his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, and North Carolina Republican Party chairman Michael Whatley. But Pat McCrory, who is North Carolina's most recent Republican governor, is not enthusiastic about putting Whatley in charge of the GOP.

According to the Washington Post, Whatley allowed Trump to endorse Rep. Ted Budd (R-North Carolina) ahead of the 2022 Republican primary for an open U.S. Senate seat which McCrory and another Republican were also seeking. This was reportedly a violation of the party's rules for neutrality from the state party until voters selected a nominee (Budd ultimately won the primary and the general election).

READ MORE: Trump wants daughter-in-law to co-chair RNC — but 'didn't even like her' for 'many years'

"I’d been advised early on by people I respect to never trust him, and it turns out they were right," McCrory said, without going further.

Whatley replaced former North Carolina GOP chairman Robert "Robin" Hayes, who was indicted on federal bribery charges in 2019. After entering a guilty plea, Trump ultimately pardoned him. Whatley's ascendancy to heading the GOP in the Tar Heel State came just four years after he moved there, noticeably setting himself apart as an ardent acolyte of then-candidate Trump. Even in the wake of Trump's 2020 election loss, Whatley endorsed the former president's claims that he was a victim of widespread voter fraud that was never proven.

"We do know that there was massive fraud that took place. We know that it took place in places like Milwaukee and Detroit and Philadelphia," Whatley said in 2020.

Ronna McDaniel still heads the RNC, and has said she will continue to remain in her role until at least the South Carolina Republican primary election later this month.

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