Never Trump Movement Gears Up For Final Play To Stop Trump At Convention
CLEVELAND, Ohio—Republican National Committee delegates determined to stop Donald Trump at the GOP Convention next week are in the final planning stages of their mission.
Several groups are fine-tuning various convention floor strategies that would allow delegates to vote their conscience on the first round of balloting, rather than being required to vote for the candidate who won their state contest.
Composed of various alliances who talk to one another on conference calls, email lists and text messages virtually every day, groups like Save Our Party, Delegates Unbound and Free the Delegates find themselves in the final home stretch this week as key RNC delegate committee meetings (platform, rules, credentials) convene before the GOP picks its nominee at the convention.
Dane Waters, co-founder and adviser to Delegates Unbound, announced Sunday night that one Arizona delegate has already declared independence from her state party chairman.
Trump won all 58 bound delegates in the Arizona primary with 47 percent of the vote on March 22 against Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. However, Cruz walked away with 40 of the 58 delegates supporting him during the Arizona GOP convention, so Trump’s support would remain mandated by all Arizona delegates on the first ballot only.
Arizona GOP delegate Lori Hack stated in a press release that she informed her chairman of her plans to defy his requirement that delegates from the state vote for Trump on the first ballot.
“Duly elected delegates have an obligation to vote their conscience, free of fear and threats,” stated Hack. “Chairman Robert Graham is undermining that obligation by withholding credentials from delegates who fail to pledge loyalty to Donald Trump.”
Despite pronouncements of the death of the “Never Trump” movement from the media and Trump supporters, Waters tells The Daily Caller that “hundreds” of delegates are interested and organizing to try and stop Trump from securing the GOP nomination.
“I think it’s absolutely untrue [that Never Trump is dead]. This is their way of showing that they are concerned about what’s going on. If they truly felt it was an effort that had no (real support) they would ignore it completely,” said Waters, who is opening up an office in Cleveland for Delegates Unbound on Monday. “They wouldn’t even talk about it,” he added.
Virginia GOP delegate, Carroll “Beau” Correll Jr., a lawyer from Northern Virginia, went to court to challenge the mandate of voting for Trump on the first ballot.
U.S. District Court Judge Robert E. Payne of Virginia is expected to give his opinion next week on the challenge to a state law that requires delegates to vote for Trump on the first ballot, The Washington Post reported. Trump won about 35 percent of the vote in the state’s March 1 primary.
The Post notes that even if Payne rules in Correll’s favor and tosses out the state law binding delegates on the first ballot to the winner of the primary, the GOP nomination rules will still be in the RNC’s jurisdiction to decide at the convention.
“Trump intervened into the Virginia lawsuit that’s going on,” Waters told TheDC, adding that state party chairs are also trying to stop delegates from getting their floor credentials.
“I mean all of this shows that there is serious concern about how strong this movement is,” he said.
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Originally Posted by LibertyEagle
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