RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, who previously affirmed that the committee would be 'neutral' in the 2024 election, says Trump 'still leads the party'

• RNC Chair McDaniel said on Sunday that former President Donald Trump "still leads the party."
• McDaniel pointed to GOP supporters who continue to pack rallies headlined by the former president.
• She previously said the RNC would remain "neutral" if Trump launched a 2024 presidential bid.

Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who previously affirmed that the committee would be neutral in the 2024 presidential race, said in a Sunday interview that former President Donald Trump "still leads the party."

During a WABC 770 AM radio interview with New York businessman John Catsimatidis on "The Cats Roundtable," McDaniel pointed to Trump's fundraising prowess, as he sits on $102 million in political donations that he can wield in the 2022 midterm elections for Republicans across the country.

"I always go back to the voters, and I think when you see the amount of people that show up to the rallies for President Trump, and this $102 million fundraising haul, I think the voters in America - Republicans in America - would absolutely say the president's the most popular Republican and still leads the party," she said.

Trump has still not indicated whether he will run for president in 2024, but he has committed to aiding Republicans in regaining control of Congress next year.

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In the 2020 general election, Republicans made substantial gains in the House but fell short of a majority, while the Senate reverted to Democratic control after the GOP lost two crucial Senate runoff elections in Georgia earlier this year.

In January, McDaniel told The Associated Press that the RNC would not pick a preferred candidate even if Trump were to jump into the 2024 GOP presidential primary.

"The party has to stay neutral," she said at the time. "I'm not telling anybody to run or not to run in 2024 ... That's going to be up to those candidates going forward. What I really do want to see him [Trump] do, though, is help us win back majorities in 2022."

In the Sunday interview, McDaniel had a negative assessment of President Joe Biden's administration, saying that the country was "in such bad shape" while bringing up immigration, inflation, and unemployment.

She also criticized progressive proposals to eliminate the Senate filibuster and expand the Supreme Court.

"Our country's at stake," she said. "We won't recognize America if we don't win this next election."