A coalition of Republican delegates is mounting a last-ditch effort to block Donald Trump from obtaining the GOP nomination by pushing for a "conscience clause" that would allow delegates to vote against the presumptive nominee.
Kendal Unruh, a Colorado delegate, organized a call with dozens of other delegates Thursday night to discuss ways to block Trump at the convention. The group, Unruh says, marks the coalescing of disparate "pockets of resistance" -- including backers of Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich -- which had been opposing Trump with little success.
Priebus probes state GOP leaders over anti-Trump push "This is a coalition of Kasich, Cruz and Rubio (supporters) and we are all agreeing on one goal, which is: Anybody but Trump," Unruh said Friday.
The Washington Post first reported the details of the phone call. Any stop-Trump effort would be nearly impossible to pull off at this point in the election cycle. But moves such as Thursday's call demonstrate that Trump's opponents inside the GOP are trying to organize more effectively. And, perhaps more importantly, it reflects the mounting anxiety inside the party about Trump's candidacy amid polls that show him badly trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. His comments in the aftermath of the Orlando attacks -- and his earlier criticism of a judge because of his Mexican heritage -- have alarmed many in the GOP.
Trump dismissed the effort Friday, suggesting it would be "illegal" if the delegates tried to thwart the binding of the delegates. "I have tremendous support and get the biggest crowds by far and any such move would not only be totally illegal but also a rebuke of the millions of people who feel so strongly about what I am saying," Trump said in a statement. "People that I defeated soundly in the primaries will do anything to get a second shot -- but there is no mechanism for it to happen."
The Republican National Committee, which has largely aligned with the Trump campaign, also dismissed the effort Friday. "The extent of this effort is a bunch of random people tweeting about it, full stop," said Sean Spicer, RNC chief strategist. Later Friday, Spicer tweeted a short statement: "Donald Trump bested 16 highly qualified candidates and received more primary votes than any candidate in Republican Party history. All of the discussion about the RNC Rules Committee acting to undermine the presumptive nominee is silly. There is no organized effort, strategy or leader of this so-called movement. It is nothing more than a media creation and a series of tweets."
Unruh, a member of the Republican convention Rules Committee, said she is lobbying others to sign on to her proposal. She would need 56 other supporters from the 112-member panel, which will determine precisely how Republicans select their nominee in Cleveland.
The Uniparty holdouts don't know how to accept defeat. The game is OVER GOP-e !!! TM ******* Donald Trump on Saturday accused Jeb Bush of mounting a convention coup against him, after reports that Republican delegates who don't personally support Trump are looking for ways to avoid voting for him this summer.
"By the way, Jeb is working on the movement, just so you understand," Trump said to supporters at a rally in Las Vegas. "Jeb is one of the people that's working — and the other one should be obvious," he said, though he didn't elaborate further.
Earlier at the rally, however, Trump echoed the Republican National Committee and said the reports were a media hoax.
"It's all made up by the press, folks. It's a hoax," Trump said. "This is a story — who are they going to pick? I beat everybody. I beat the hell out of them."
Several reports this week indicated that at least 30 delegates hope to change party rules next month to take away delegates who are pledged to the presumptive nominee, but who may not personally support him.
"First of all, it's illegal. Second of all, you can't do it. Third of all, we, not me, we got 13, almost 14 million votes since the primary system," Trump said Saturday. snip