Washington (CNN)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.
"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 group, Unruh said, has dubbed itself
"Free the Delegates 2016" -- a nod to another rules committee member,
Curly Haugland, who has been arguing that delegates should not be forced
to vote for Trump.
The renewed
push to block Trump from securing the nomination comes after two
incredibly choppy weeks for the presumptive nominee, following his
comments on federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel and his promise to pursue a ban
on Muslims entering the country in response to the Orlando terror
attack.
Steve Lonegan, a New Jersey
Ted Cruz backer and former U.S. Senate candidate who was on the
organizing call Thursday night, said that Republicans who do not believe
Trump represents what the party stands for have a "moral obligation" to
stop him in Cleveland next month.
"I
will tell you, about every two hours people contact me about how to
join this effort," said Lonegan said. "This has never been done before,
so there's no textbook on how to do it. So we're building an organic
effort, state by state, to convince members of the Rules Committee to
sign onto a rule that unbinds the delegates to vote their moral
conscience."
Efforts to oust Trump
in Cleveland appeared to ebb after Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol
floated David French as his vaunted third-party option. But the movement
to ouster Trump gained new steam after the fallout from the past two
weeks.
A group of people -- including Eric O'Keefe, a former top fundraiser for Cruz -- recently formed a group they're calling "Delegates Unbound,"
an effort to convince delegates that they have the authority and the
ability to vote for whomever they want. A source working with the group
told CNN that they are going to try to not only directly communicate
with the delegates but also try to raise money to buy TV ads.
Unruh
has moved out in front publicly on the issue, but top-level donors and
operatives have been re-examining their options for removing Trump
behind the scenes as well.
They
come after efforts by top Republican donors and party leaders to tamp
down Trump's language appear to have failed. Unruh mocked those very
efforts to rein in Trump, saying they would end up helping her cause.
"This will be an absolute success once that tranquilizer they sedated Trump with wears off," Unruh said.
Trump opponents have been getting some high-profile cover as well. House Speaker Paul Ryan said Republicans who don't want to support Trump by saying no one should betray their conscience.
"The
last thing I would do is tell anybody to do something that's contrary
to their conscience," Ryan told NBC's Chuck Todd in an interview on
"Meet the Press" that will air Sunday. "Of course I wouldn't do that."
As
confusion continued to swirl about the pending nomination of Trump,
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus announced Friday
the selection of four party loyalists who will fill vital posts in the
convention in Cleveland.
Priebus
tapped RNC vice chairwoman Enid Mickelsen and former George W. Bush
political director Ron Kaufman to co-chair the convention Rules
Committee. And he also tapped former RNC Chairman Haley Barbour -- a
trusted power player among establishment Republicans -- to lead the
convention's Committee on Permanent Organization with Wisconsin RNC
Committeewoman Mary Buestrin.
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