Republicans oust ex-Trump aide — and ban him from holding GOP office: report

Former Donald Trump aide Billy Lanzilotti has been ousted as a GOP ward boss and banned from ever again holding Republican Party office in his city, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Saturday.

"GOP ward leaders voted to oust one of their own on Saturday, hours after an Inquirer story highlighted his role in diverting dozens of mail ballots for Republican voters in South Philadelphia to a P.O. box under his control, raising concerns of a potential 'ballot harvesting' scheme," the newspaper reported. "Matt Wolfe, a ward leader from West Philadelphia, described the vote to remove Lanzilotti from his post — held during a meeting at the United Republican Club in Kensington — as overwhelming. It also precludes Lanzilotti from holding any Republican Party office in the city in the future."

Martina White, chairperson of the Republican City Committee, voiced the group's displeasure with Lanzilotti.

“The Philly GOP takes any allegations of election improprieties very seriously regardless of political party,” she said. "There was nobody in that room that was not angry and upset about this. This was very upsetting to everyone who cares about the Republican Party in Philadelphia.”

Lanzilotti, the chairman of the Republican Registration Coalition PAC, was no stranger to Pennsylvania politics.

"His ouster capped off a whirlwind 24 hours for the Republican leader, who, in addition to serving as a ward leader, had previously served as chairman of the Philadelphia Young Republicans and held paid positions on high-profile campaigns," the newspaper reported. "He’d worked for President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign in Pennsylvania in 2020, according to campaign finance filings. He’d also been paid more than $7,000 by the reelection campaign for U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) between January and March of this year — a job Lanzilotti touted in an interview with The Inquirer last week."

Fitzpatrick said Lanziliotti is no longer affiliated with his campaign.

Read the full report.