Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn on Saturday stepped down as Republican National Committee finance chairman, according to three senior Republicans briefed on the decision.
The decision followed a Friday report in the Wall Street Journal alleging that Wynn engaged in sexual harassment.
Wynn, 76, was President Donald Trump's handpicked choice for the finance position. It has not yet been determined who will replace him.
"Today I accepted Steve Wynn’s resignation as Republican National Committee finance chair," said RNC chair Ronna Romney McDaniel, who spoke about the Wynn situation with the president on Saturday morning, according to a person with knowledge of the conversation. Trump returned from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Friday evening.
Wynn has had a long relationship with the president, himself a former casino owner. After the 2016 election, Trump tapped the Las Vegas Republican to oversee the RNC's fundraising heading into a perilous midterm election for the party. Last Saturday, Wynn headlined a fundraiser for the president's reelection campaign and the RNC at Trump's posh Mar a Lago resort.
Wynn has been a prolific Republican donor, particularly over the past decade: He has donated more than $2.5 million to the Republican Governors Association since 2012 and has been a top donor to several individual gubernatorial campaigns.
The casino mogul also contributed $411,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee over the past five years, $248,000 to the RNC and $100,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee, according to campaign finance records.
What changes would you recommend for Steve Wynn's corporation and its myriad ethical issues (harassment, executive compensation corporate governance)? Should the Republican Party return the funds that Wynn contributed?