RNC purges election lawyer for saying Republicans shouldn’t dwell on “things that aren’t true”

Charlie Spies, a well-respected lawyer at the Republican Party, has resigned after angering Donald Trump by criticizing his false claims about the 2020 elections being rigged, The Washington Post reported. 

Spies was hired in March, with the former president’s approval, after Trump orchestrated a takeover of the Republican National Committee, under which prospective hires are generally required to say that the 2020 election was stolen before being offered a job. In Spies’ case, Trump approved of the initial hiring but withdrew support after learning that the lawyer had been critical of his voter-fraud conspiracy theories.

At the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference, Spies rebutted some of the false allegations surrounding voting machines in Michigan, in particular, and defended the recounts in Georgia that did not show any significant voter fraud in the 2020 election. Republicans should shift their attention away from “things that aren’t true,” Spies said, and focus instead on trying to win elections.

Spies had been hired to lead the RNC’s legal spending and election integrity program after previously working for the likes of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Utah Sen. Mitt Romney. He was “flabbergasted” by the controversy over his hiring, the Post reported, believing when he took the job that he enjoyed the backing of Trump and his aides.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the Trump campaign denied that Spies’ departure had anything to do with him angering the former president. Instead, Danielle Alvarez, a campaign spokesperson, said Spiers was leaving to focus on his private legal practice.