This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Casino mogul Steve Wynn has resigned as finance chair of the Republican National Committee, a day after it was reported that he faces multiple of allegations of sexual misconduct.

RNC finance chair and casino mogul Steve Wynn accused of sexual harassment Read more

RNC chair Ronna Romney McDaniel said: “Today I accepted Steve Wynn’s resignation.”



McDaniel spoke about the Wynn controversy with Donald Trump on Saturday morning, according to a report by Politico, which first broke news of the resignation. Her 12-word statement did not address the accusations against Wynn or calls for his $2.4m donations to Republican causes over the past five years to be returned.

Wynn, who turned 76 on Saturday, is a billionaire business rival turned political ally of Trump, who selected him for the RNC role after he was vice-chair of the president’s inaugural committee.

Wynn spoke last weekend at a fundraiser held at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

On Friday the Wall Street Journal detailed claims by a number of women who say they were harassed or assaulted by Wynn. One case led to a $7.5m settlement with a manicurist, the paper reported.

In response, Wynn said the allegations were part of a smear campaign related to divorce proceedings.

“The idea that I ever assaulted any woman is preposterous,” he said in a statement. “We find ourselves in a world where people can make allegations, regardless of the truth, and a person is left with the choice of weathering insulting publicity or engaging in multi-year lawsuits. It is deplorable for anyone to find themselves in this situation.”

Stocks in his company, Las Vegas-based Wynn Resorts, fell sharply on Friday. Fox News said in a statement it would no longer book Wynn to appear on television.

The RNC, which aggressively criticised Democrats who took money from the now disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, was accused of hypocrisy.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) condemned the RNC for not initially commenting on Wynn and for backing both failed Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, who was accused of molesting underage girls, and Trump himself, who is the subject of numerous allegations of sexual misconduct.

“This is the Republican party,” DNC spokesperson Sabrina Singh said. “Democrats will refuse to stand by while the Republican party denigrates women.

“We will continue to march side by side with women all across this country because we believe that women must be empowered and respected.”

Last October, McDaniel tweeted that if the DNC “truly stands up for women like they say they do, then returning Weinstein’s dirty money should be a no-brainer”.

Analysts said the Weinstein and Wynn cases showed the dangerous dependence of both major parties on mega-donors.



Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics, tweeted on Saturday: “Hey @GOP & @TheDemocrats, instead of pointing fingers and shrieking at each other every time one of your donors turns out to be a filth bag, how about passing some meaningful bipartisan campaign finance reform? Get the corrupting influence of money out of politics, now!”

Since 2013, Wynn has contributed nearly $2.4m to Republican organisations and candidates including senators Dean Heller (Nevada) and John McCain (Arizona) and former Nevada congressman Joe Heck.

But he also gave $20,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2000 and donated to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign before supporting Trump, according to campaign finance records reported by the Washington Post.

Trump and Wynn were once business foes with casinos in fierce competition. In the 1990s, Wynn was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying Trump was “all hat and no cattle”, while Trump told New York magazine: “You know, I think Steve’s got a lot of psychological problems. I think he’s quite disturbed.”

In 2016, though, Trump told an audience in Las Vegas that Wynn is “a great friend of mine”.

A picture of Donald Trump and Steve Wynn, posted to Trump’s Instagram feed in 2013.

Wynn is the latest political figure to resign or announce his retirement over accusations of sexual misconduct.



Three Republican congressmen – Trent Franks, Blake Farenthold and Patrick Meehan – the Democratic representatives John Conyers and Ruben Kihuen and the Democratic senator Al Franken have seen their political careers ended.

Hillary Clinton: accusations against adviser were 'taken seriously' Read more

According to campaign finance records, Wynn also donated to Greg Gianforte, the Republican congressman who assaulted Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs on the eve of the Montana special election last year. Wynn gave Gianforte a maximum individual contribution of $2,700 on 25 May 2016, the day after he assaulted Jacobs.

A spokesman for Gianforte told news outlets an equivalent sum would be given to charity if the allegations against Wynn were proved.

The Billings Gazette newspaper reported that Montana Republican party chairwoman Debra Lamm accused local Democrats of failing to return donations from Franken – and said the party might therefore not give back money from Wynn.

“The Montana Democrats refused to get rid of the $12,000 they received from disgraced Senator Al Franken,” Lamm was quoted as saying. “When they get around to doing that, and if these allegations are found to be true, we will evaluate what to do with the $3,650 contribution.”