Thread: RNC rules committee meetings abruptly postponed as factions fight over Trump

RNC rules committee meetings abruptly postponed as factions fight over Trump

POSTED 12:32 PM, JULY 14, 2016, BY CNNWIRE, UPDATED AT 12:35PM, JULY 14, 2016

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Rules Committee meetings at the Republican National Convention were abruptly postponed Thursday morning as different factions fighting over Donald Trump and control of the party huddle privately to work out a deal that could end the effort to block the real estate mogul from winning the nomination.

Scheduled to begin at 8 a.m., RNC officials told reporters the delays -- at first until 10 a.m. then to 1 p.m. -- were the result of a "broken printer."

The talks appear to be attempts to strike a deal to prevent an ugly and messy fight over the rules and the question of whether delegates can be unbound -- an effort to prevent Trump from clinching the nomination on the first ballot. Talks are also ongoing about an effort by former Ted Cruz delegate director Ken Cuccinelli to change GOP rules to close primaries and caucuses in 2020 from non-Republicans.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee, who has held his cards close to the vest in his role on the Rules Committee, Free The Delegates leader Kendal Unruh, Cuccinelli and other delegates involved in the RNC rules debate were seen in the meeting, later joined by RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, two sources said.

As the original meeting continued, Lee and Priebus then snuck out of the room to another huddle.

Trump's campaign is keeping its distance for the moment. Campaign chairman Paul Manafort said "we're not involved in it" when asked about the negotiations.

http://fox8.com/2016/07/14/rnc-rules...ht-over-trump/

RNC rules committee resumes but do they have a deal with Trump foes?

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The Republican National Committee's rules panel reconvened this afternoon without immediate word on whether a deal had been struck between GOP Chairman Reince Priebus after a private meeting that reportedly included leaders of a movement to dump Donald Trump as the party's nominee.

The GOP group's rules committee ground to a halt for several hours today as the closed-door session was held in a facility near the convention center. Members were initially were told a printer paper jam was holding up proceedings, but were told this afternoon about the gathering attempting a compromise.

The closed-door session included Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Kendal Unruh of Colorado, leader of the "Free the Delegates" movement that would "unbind" delegates from the candidate to whom they are pledged. Also involved was the former chief delegate-hunter for Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who is pushing his own package of changes.

The rules panel, usually an all-but-ignored group that meets the week before every convention to consider matters of little consequence to the public, this year is the battleground for those unhappy with the prospect of Trump as the GOP nominee.

A few months ago, this was projected as a big day for Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s presidential dream.
It was supposed to be when his delegate-laden, increasingly popular campaign was going to challenge Trump before the rules committee as a precursor to an open convention battle for the nomination next week.

Now Kasich — his quixotic run thwarted more than two months ago — will be nowhere near the committee gathering today and Friday. And while he has voiced support for a rule change allowing delegates to "vote their conscience" regardless of current rules binding them to a candidate, the Ohio governor is not trying to influence the outcome, spokesman Chris Schrimpf said.

But former New Hampshire Sen. Gordon Humphrey, a Kasich delegate and major supporter, wrote an op-ed for Wednesday's Washington Post calling for a convention revolt.

"Trump is dangerous. He operates without a conscience, apparently, and never evidences guilt, shame, embarrassment, remorse or regret.

He demonstrates no empathy or sympathy for those he cruelly ridicules," Humphrey wrote.

"The only potential candidate still positioned to offer an alternative to convention delegates is Ohio Gov. John Kasich," the former senator added. "Only Kasich can stave off disaster. The convention is not yet Trump’s, and it could very well be Kasich’s. But Kasich must send a clear signal this week that he is ready to serve if the delegates find Trump unqualified."

The so-called conscience clause is the dream of Trump opponents desperately trying to thwart his nomination. That's unlikely to pass the 112-member panel containing many Trump backers, so the #NeverTrump forces' fall-back position is attempting to muster the necessary quarter of the group — 28 members — to issue a minority report that would come before the full convention for a vote next week.

"I think it's probably going to be close on that because it's a fairly low threshold," said longtime GOP national committeeman Steve Duprey.

But Trump backers don't want a convention floor battle involving delegates voting next week — likely Monday — whether he should be the nominee.

Duprey expressed hope that the move to unbind delegates will fail.

Duprey, also a rules committee member, said the push by Trump opponents is “the antithesis of what the Republican Party stands for.”

He said he hopes the #NeverTrump members of the rules panel will be content to air their grievances but wind up not pushing their bid to change party rules that bind delegates to the candidate they pledged to support in state primaries and caucuses. But he acknowledged that both sides have been heavily lobbying on the issue.

Ohio members of the rules panel are former Ohio House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson of Reynoldsburg, a longtime member of the Republican National Committee and former national party co-chair, and Don Thibaut, chief of staff to Kasich when he served in the U.S. House from 1983 to 2001.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stor...es-stalls.html

Anti-Trump movement quashed in Cleveland