Trump allies on Republican National Committee want to help pay his legal bills

•  A growing number of Republican National Committee members believe its campaign arm should help pay mounting legal bills for former President Donald Trump.
• Such a move could strain the party's ability to financially support other candidates in the 2024 election when Trump is expected to face off against President Joe Biden.
• Trump faces four pending criminal cases and civil judgments of nearly $550 million in damages.

A growing number of Republican National Committee members believe its campaign arm should help pay mounting legal bills for former President Donald Trump, a move that could strain the party's ability to financially support other candidates in the 2024 election.

RNC Committeeman Solomon Yue, who is from Oregon, told CNBC he believes "more than a majority" of members are in favor of helping offset the bills from Trump's lawyers in four pending criminal cases, and at least three other civil cases.

"I support the RNC paying President Trump's legal bills," Yue said.

That support by Yue and others led to the defeat Tuesday of a proposed resolution by RNC committee member Henry Barbour that would have barred the group from paying those bills once Trump becomes the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, who is a billionaire.

"The resolution is dead," Barbour told Reuters.

He did not return CNBC's request for comment.

Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley dropped out of the Republican presidential nomination contest Wednesday, making it all but certain that Trump soon will collect the minimum 1,215 delegates he needs to become the party's presumptive nominee.

When Barbour first proposed his resolution in February, Trump's senior campaign advisor Chris LaCivita — who Trump has endorsed to become the next RNC