(Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)
(Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)OAN’s Abril Elfi
3:45 PM – Thursday, August 10, 2023
Former President Donald Trump declared that he would not sign the loyalty pledge, which supports the chosen Republican nominee.
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On Wednesday, in an interview with political commentator Eric Bolling, the former president voiced that he declined to sign the commitment.
Trump went on to explain that he would make an announcement about his plans for the first debate next week on Aug 23rd, due to the pledge being an RNC requirement for participation in the first primary debate.
“I wouldn’t sign the pledge,” Trump said. “Why would I sign a pledge if there are people on there that I wouldn’t have?”
According to reports, Trump explicitly criticized Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, naming “three or four” GOP presidential rivals whom he would not support.
Due to his reservations about Trump’s campaign, former representative Will Hurd (R-Texas) decided not to sign the pledge. Christie and Hutchinson have also questioned the pledge’s validity and enforceability.
Although the 45th president has frequently hinted that he would not show up for the primary debate, he indicated on Wednesday that he had not “totally ruled it out.”
Trump is currently the Republican front-runner leading by a wide margin in the polls.
“I’d like to do it,” he said. “I’ve actually gotten very good marks on debating talents. But you want to be, you know, they want a smart president. They want somebody that’s going to be smart. So we have to do the smart thing.”
According to a copy of the pledge posted by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to Twitter (X), it reads “I affirm that if I do not win the 2024 Republican nomination of President of the United States, I will honor the will of the primary voters and support the nominee in order to save our country and beat Joe Biden.”
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