TRUMP FUMES, DEMANDS GOP GROUPS STOP USING HIS NAME TO RAISE CASH

Former President Donald Trump has clashed again with his Republican Party, demanding that three Republican groups stop using his name and likeness for fundraising, a Trump adviser said.

The adviser, confirming a report in Politico, said lawyers for Trump on Friday had sent cease-and-desist letters to the Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Campaign and National Republican Senate Campaign, asking them to stop using his name and likeness on fundraising emails and merchandise.

The adviser told Steve Holland of Reuters that Trump is sensitive to the use of his name and likeness for branding purposes and was irked that the three groups have supported Republican lawmakers who joined Democrats in voting to impeach him over the Jan. 6 storming of the US Capitol by pro-Trump protesters.

Trump is using his Save America SuperPAC to raise money in part to help hand-picked Republican candidates in the 2022 congressional elections. Some of them are expected to challenge Republican incumbents.

A civil war has erupted within the Republican Party, with establishment figures such as Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell eager to put Trump in the rearview mirror, and others, like Trump ally Senator Lindsey Graham, believing the party’s future depends on the energy of the pro-Trump base.

Trump has waged a war of words with establishment Republicans, some of whom he feels betrayed him by joining Democrats in impeaching him for instigating his fans into storming the US Capitol on January 7.

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