Trump's personal lawyer will serve as key RNC finance executive

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Michael Cohen

Stephanie Keith/Reuters

Michael Cohen.

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President Trump's longtime attorney Michael Cohen will be a deputy national finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, the RNC announced on Monday.

Cohen served as executive vice president special counsel to Trump at the Trump Organization and sat on multiple boards of other Trump corporations.

The RNC said in the press release that Cohen has "been an active spokesperson and advisor for the President during his interest in seeking office since 2011."

Cohen, who has been referred to as Trump's "pitbull," gained widespread media coverage for his impassioned tirades against journalists and the media for their critical coverage of his boss.

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"If you do something wrong [to Trump], I'm going to come at you, grab you by the neck and I'm not going to let you go until I'm finished," he said during an interview with ABC News last year.

Cohen also lashed out at The Daily Beast after he incorrectly stated that "you cannot rape your spouse," while being interviewed about Ivana Trump's allegation that Trump raped her when they were married.

When he realized his statement was not true and that the story would be published, he said, "I'm warning you, tread very f------ lightly, because what I'm going to do to you is going to be f------ disgusting. You understand me?"

The RNC's new roster also features a few other Trump backers, like Elliott Broidy, who was national vice chairman of the Trump campaign and vice chairman of the Presidential Inaugural Committee. Broidy will now serve as the RNC's national deputy finance chairman. Brian Ballard, who worked on the Trump campaign in Florida and was vice chairman of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, will now be regional vice-chairman of the RNC.

Also on the RNC's list of new recruits is Bob Grand, who served as a fundraiser under Vice President Mike Pence when he was governor of Indiana.

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"Together this team will employ their extraordinary talent and understanding of Americans across the country to maintain and build upon our unprecedented fundraising success," the RNC said in the press release.

Though Ballard, Grand, and Broidy have previous fundraising experience, Cohen's experience is limited to his work on the Trump campaign.