by Mary Lou Masters
A draft resolution to declare former President Donald Trump the presumptive GOP nominee was withdrawn just hours after it was proposed on Thursday evening, the Daily Caller News Foundation confirmed.
David Bossie, a committeeman for the Republican National Committee (RNC), proposed that Trump be declared the nominee ahead of the party’s convention in July after his significant wins in the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary, according to the draft resolution obtained by The Dispatch. Trump turned down the proposal in a Truth Social post, and the draft resolution was later withdrawn, according to a person familiar.
“While I greatly appreciate the Republican National Committee (RNC) wanting to make me their PRESUMPTIVE NOMINEE, and while they have far more votes than necessary to do it, I feel, for the sake of PARTY UNITY, that they should NOT go forward with this plan, but that I should do it the ‘Old Fashioned’ way, and finish the process off AT THE BALLOT BOX,” Trump wrote. “Thank you to the RNC for the Respect and Devotion you have shown me! TRUMP2024.”
The RNC could have considered the proposal at their winter meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, next week, according to the person familiar.
“RESOLVED that the Republican National Committee hereby declares President Trump as our presumptive 2024 nominee for the office of President of the United States and from this moment forward moves into full general election mode welcoming supporters of all candidates as valued members of Team Trump 2024,” the draft proposal read.
If approved, Trump still would have had to obtain the required amount of state delegates at the RNC convention — 1,215 — to win the nomination, according to the person familiar. The former president currently leads former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley 32 to 17 with delegates allotted from Iowa and New Hampshire.
Olivia Perez-Cubas, spokeswoman for the Haley campaign, dismissed the draft proposal in a statement to The Dispatch.
“Who cares what the RNC says?” Perez-Cubas said. “We’ll let millions of Republican voters across the country decide who should be our party’s nominee, not a bunch of Washington insiders. If Ronna McDaniel wants to be helpful she can organize a debate in South Carolina, unless she’s also worried that Trump can’t handle being on the stage for 90 minutes with Nikki Haley.”
Haley insists that she’s staying in the race for her home state of South Carolina and beyond, and told an audience of supporters Tuesday that “this race is far from over.”
The RealClearPolitics average for the Palmetto State primary, based on polls conducted between Oct. 18 and Jan. 3, indicates Trump has a 30-point lead over Haley.
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Mary Lou Masters is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “President Donald Trump” by Gage Skidmore CC2.0.
