Republican National Committee members approved a resolution Friday promising to continue to “vocally” support those who “lawfully” served as Donald Trump’s electors in 2020 in states that Joe Biden won — a compromise intended to placate Trump supporters who had unsuccessfully pushed for help covering the legal bills for those who challenged the result and now face criminal charges.
Tyler Bowyer, a Republican national committeeman from Arizona who signed paperwork in 2020 falsely claiming Trump had won his state, pushed the resolution. It comes as Trump electors are facing numerous investigations and lawsuits, with prosecutors charging electors in three states and the Arizona attorney general investigating alleged attempts by Republicans there to overturn the 2020 election results.
The resolution, which some Republicans saw as intentionally vague in its wording, highlights enduring divisions in the GOP over the effort Trump and his allies waged to overturn his 2020 election defeat. Trump, now the clear front-runner for the Republican nomination in 2024, has continued to promote false claims that the prior presidential election was rigged against him. As some Republicans have urged Trump and his allies to move on, disagreements over what to do about those saddled with legal bills related to the 2020 aftermath loom over the party.