Mass layoffs at the Republican Party leaves staff in shock: CNN

In political operations, campaigns and parties generally staff up ahead of the election, but it's typically understood that its seasonal work likely to end after the election. That wasn't the case for the GOP, where the staff was left in shock after learning that many would be laid off ahead of the holidays, CNN.com reported.

As CNN's John Harwood said Monday, the Trump 2020 campaign staff will likely get their final paycheck on the 15th. At the RNC, a fundraising blitz is underway trying to retire President Donald Trump's campaign debt under the guise of legal challenges to the electoral loss.

"Departments within the RNC were instructed Monday to inform staffers who were being laid off, though the scale of the layoffs vary among the departments," the report said. "Most stemmed from those assigned to the RNC-Trump Victory program, the joint fundraising effort between the RNC and Trump campaign that served as the ground and field program for the Trump campaign."

A source from the GOP told CNN that the staff layoffs were widespread and a "large portion of the staff."

"Layoffs are the logical next step considering the outcome," said one RNC source.

CNN recalled that during the Florida recount in 2000 the RNC was able to pay a huge group of staffers on the ground there. That isn't happening this year.

Read the full report.