Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, accused his predecessor Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., of improperly paying bonuses to staff after the 2020 election, in which Republicans lost the Senate majority.
Previously, Scott and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pointed fingers at each other after the disappointing 2022 midterms.
"When I took over, I immediately became aware that hundreds of thousands of dollars in unauthorized and improper bonuses were paid to outgoing staff after the majority was lost in 2020," Scott said in a statement released through the NRSC.
"When that's your starting point, you work really hard to make sure there are transparent processes, and we are more than happy to sit down with any member of the caucus to walk them through our spending," said Scott.
Young led the Senate campaign arm last election cycle. After a Tuesday meeting with Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., an independent audit of NRSC spending was called.
Tillis spoke in favor of an audit in 2018 and 2020 for comparison purposes.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, also criticized NRSC spending at the Tuesday conference.
A few Republican strategists have accused Scott of spending massive amounts on the small-dollar donor development program to use a donor database for a potential future presidential run.
Defenders of Scott say he tried to expand the committee's small-dollar donor pool to help the committee raise funds in the future.
An aide to Scott told The Hill after Election Day that the NRSC is fully transparent about its fundraising and spending as it provided monthly reports with the Federal Election Commission.
This audit would not be so farfetched. The NRSC was audited in 2008.
NRSC spokesman Chris Hartline disputed the idea of an audit.
"We get audited every month," Hartline told Politico. "It's called an FEC report."
He then added, "every member of the caucus was kept in the loop on NRSC strategy and spending all cycle" and that the committee performs audits on itself annually.
According to the NRSC's most recent FEC report, the committee has raised $234.6 million through Oct. 19, including $20 million in bank loans taken out in Sept. and Oct.
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