Ronna McDaniel challenger says it's 'silly' to ask her to end the GOP's payments to her own law firm

Harmeet Dhillon, the California GOP official and Trump lawyer challenging Ronna McDaniel for chair of the Republican National Committee, has made it a key promise to Republican officials that she will cut costs, and end the party's payments to various expensive consultants and firms.

But when asked by POLITICO whether that includes the RNC's current payments to her own law firm — which has received over $1 million in party funds since 2019 — she had a different tune.

“It’s kind of silly — the RNC has about 100 different legal vendors, I’m not even in the top 10. I’m not sure I’m in the top 20. And half of that work, at least, is defending RNC members and staff in the January 6th committee subpoena effort," said Dhillon. "I will say, there are few law firms in America willing to do that work right now"

She went on to add that she would "have no influence over whether my firm is selected" if named RNC chair, and that "If anything, running for RNC chair is contrary to my financial interests.”

IN OTHER NEWS: Legal experts urge 'expeditious action' by California Bar Association to punish notorious Trump lawyer

Dhillon, who prior to January 6 helped Republicans try to overturn the 2020 election results, and recently posted conspiracy theories questioning the brutal hammer attack on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, has accused McDaniel of failing in her duties leading the Republican Party. The race has turned ugly, with Dhillon's supporters accusing McDaniel of buying votes from rank-and-file GOP officials, and McDaniel's supporters accusing her of doxxing officials to get Trump supporters to threaten and harass them into voting for Dhillon.

Also in the race is MyPillow CEO and election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell, who is not expected to be competitive.