'Credible threat to the convention': Trump campaign moves to root out disloyal RNC delegates

21 June 2024

Former President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign is reportedly now applying pressure to delegates ahead of the Republican National Convention (RNC) next month as he aims to officially lock up the GOP's presidential nomination.

NBC News reported Friday that the Trump campaign has been working behind the scenes to apply pressure to Republican delegates from Arizona amid rumors that they may not be completely loyal to the MAGA agenda. This reportedly included reaching out to "alternate" delegates who told the network that the former president's team was attempting to head off any attempts to thwart the nomination of both Trump himself and his preferred vice presidential pick.

"[The Trump campaign] felt there was a credible threat to the convention and a disruption to the convention," one alternate delegate told NBC.

According to NBC, that "credible threat" may have involved an attempt by some delegates to nominate retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, who was Trump's first National Security Adviser in 2017. In December of that year, Flynn pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to the FBI concerning conversations he had with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Trump ultimately pardoned Flynn during the lame duck period of his presidency in December of 2020.

The talk of Flynn being elevated to the Republican Party's 2024 vice presidential nominee appear to be from Patrick Byrne, who is the former CEO of Overstock.com. He was forced out of that role in 2019 after it was revealed that he had a romantic relationship with Russian spy Maria Butina. In a post to his X (formerly Twitter) account, Byrne openly called for Trump to eschew his VP shortlist and nominate Flynn instead. Byrne wrote that Trump was "surrounded by DEEP STATE nobodies."

“They tell Trump to name as VP a milquetoast who will not overshadow him,” Byrne wrote earlier this week. “In two weeks Trump is going to be either in jail or under house arrest. His VP needs to be a General."

Byrne is right that the former president will soon be faced with the prospect of prison or home confinement, given that Judge Juan Merchan is scheduled to announce his sentence for Trump's guilty convictions on 34 felony counts on July 11. Organizers of the RNC have already confirmed that they're making preparations to have a convention in which the party's nominee would be physically able to attend.

The Trump campaign's political director, James Blair, issued a statement clarifying that they believe the supposed threat is over, and that the six alternate delegates should stand down.

"As true MAGA patriots, [the alternate delegates] challenged several AZ delegates to the Republican National Convention to prevent unnecessary distractions from being organized during President Trump’s formal nomination,” Blair stated. “Given AZ delegation chair [Shelby] Busch’s public clearing of the air and commitment to following the campaign’s lead, we feel it is appropriate for the six to withdraw their challenges.”

Following the controversy, Busch — the chair of the Arizona Republican delegation — confirmed that there was no attempt by her or any of her delegates to "participate in any disruption to the convention, including challenging the rules, platform, programming, or otherwise," adding that she "had no intention to do so and absolutely will not."

Click here to read NBC's report in full.

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