Lara Trump says the RNC is partnering with QAnon conspiracy theorist Scott Presler's organization “in every way we possibly can”

Trump previously said the RNC would not hire Presler

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

Lara Trump has been flip-flopping on the RNC’s relationship with Scott Presler for the last month. On March 14, Trump told right-wing podcast host Benny Johnson that she wanted to hire Presler for a job in “our legal ballot harvesting division.” Days later, NBC News reported Presler would not be hired. Then, on her podcast published on March 20, she said she would ask Presler to be “part of the team” to help with “the largest legal ballot harvesting operation in the entire country,” which will be “started by the RNC.”

Presler has promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory dozens of times on Instagram and was on the U.S. Capitol grounds during the January 6, 2021, attack. Additionally, Presler has worked for Act for America, an organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center has described as an “anti-Muslim hate group." He was previously linked to lewd photos posted to Craigslist allegedly taken in an RNC office in 2016.

From the April 14, 2024 edition of Newsmax's The Gorka Reality Check

SEBASTIAN GORKA (HOST): Now, you have only been in the position for a very short time. You're the new broom sweeping through the RNC. I want to hear what your plans are. I was so excited when I saw my friend, Scott Presler post a photograph of you and he, sitting at RNC headquarters.

For me, Scott, who travels the country on his own dime, registering Republicans to vote, he is the face of the new GOP, the former RINO GOP who actually gets out there as a citizen and does something to save the republic. Will you talk about how your plans focus on mobilizing everybody who loves America to do something like Scott does?

LARA TRUMP (GUEST): Yeah. Scott Presler is so impressive as you just said. I think he's responsible, single-handedly, for probably registering more Republicans in this country than any other human being alive today. He's amazing, and he really is just a depiction of the grassroots movement in this country. As you said, he took it upon himself. Nobody said you need to go out and do this. He did it because he loves this country, and, man, has he been effective. I want effective people on our team, Sebastian, and I think that's the bottom line here. And whether it's Scott Presler, whose organization we are legally partnering with in every way we possibly can from the RNC, and we're going to be working with him not just registering people, but also legal ballot harvesting from now until election day because don't kid yourself, that's something we haven't done before on the Republican side of the aisle that I don't know why we weren't doing, but we do have to play the game differently.

So, yeah, we want everyone who has the same goal, which is to save America, on our team. And I think when you talk about what we need to do to get there, it is utilizing people like Scott and people all across this country like him, but we also, from the RNC perspective, have to change the way we do things as well. We have an amazing opportunity right now with election integrity. There's no doubt, half the country plus does not believe that 2020 was all on the up and up. And however you want to pose that and whatever you want to make of it, it happened, we learned a lot. And now we are in 2024, and we have to win. So what do we do to get there? Election integrity is the number one focus we have at the RNC aside from, of course, getting out the vote. And we know who does that for us. It's Donald Trump himself.