Donald Trump's co-chairman Friday threatened to leave the Republican Party "forever" if his candidate's bid for the GOP presidential nomination is blocked in July's convention.
"I will tell you this, if the Republican Party comes into that convention and jimmies with the rules and takes away the will of the people, the will of the Republicans and the Democrats and Independents who voted for Mr. Trump, I will take off my credentials, I will leave the floor of that convention, and I will leave the Republican Party forever," Sam Clovis told Alisyn Camerota on
CNN's "New Day" program.
Clovis, who joined
Trump's campaign last year after leaving as Rick Perry's Iowa campaign co-chair, made his comments just a few days after Trump told CNN that his supporters would "riot" if his nomination is declined.
The front-runner needs 1,237 delegates to clinch the party's nomination, and if that does not happen, the party could decide to hold a contested convention to determine who the nominee would become.
On Thursday, a group of conservative leaders and Republican operatives met to discuss how to unite their party against Trump, including hearing a presentation about mounting a third-party challenge, and Clovis on Friday said he finds it "fascinating" that such groups are meeting when Trump is getting so many votes.
"We have a path, we have a process, we have procedures," said Clovis. "If these people were so concerned about what was going on, why don't they find a better candidate to run against Mr. Trump?
"Why don't they find more? We are inching up to the 50 percent level. We're going to be there. We will get to 1,237."
And if it wasn't such a "ridiculous" situation, it would "be laughable" said Clovis.
"We have people who are elitists, part of the ruling class of this country or pretenders to the throne who are openly and willingness going out and telling the American people who voted for Donald Trump they're stupid and they don't know any better," he said.
"If that's the path they want to go down there will be consequences for that kind of thing center, what does that mean?"
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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