Former President Donald Trump sent cease-and-desist letters demanding that Republican National Committee (RNC), the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) stop using his name and likeness to raise funds, a Trump adviser told The Epoch Times.

In a speech before the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando on March 28, Trump instructed supporters to donate to his campaign website and the Save America political action committee (PAC). The move suggested Trump aims to build financial leverage over the RNC, a theory that seems to gain credence because of the cease-and-desist letters.

Calls placed to the RNC, NRSC, and NRCC on March 7 went unanswered.

As of the morning of March 7, the NRCC was still using Trump’s name in its standard messaging for new email list registrations. The home page of the NRSC advertised Trump t-shirts from its online shop.

“Stand with President Trump and House Conservatives,” the message stated. “Show your support for President Trump’s fight against Nancy Pelosi and the radical Democrats, by giving a gift today.”

According to Rich Baris, the director of Big Data Poll, Trump’s instructions to donate to his website and PAC handed him leverage over the RNC, which may take a financial hit as a result.

“If he wanted to, he could basically bankrupt them into submission,” Baris told The Epoch Times. “I know there’s a lot of people in the Trump world who are rightfully angry with how the RNC raised so much money when they were jointly connected and did not appropriate it right or definitely didn’t appropriate it to the efforts that they said they would, like election integrity.

“There’s another element to this—the hidden horse race—which is the money race. The RNC and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, if these guys can’t raise money because Donald Trump is sucking all the oxygen out of the room, they’re in a lot of trouble because their candidates are relying on their support.

George Santos, a Republican running for Congress in New York, told The Epoch Times last week that bypassing the RNC for fundraising will send a message to the committee that they need Trump “more than they understand.”

“This is a great example of how he’s a more powerful individual than the party actually is, at this juncture,” Santos said.