Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday dismissed the idea that top Republicans are discussing ways to ensure Donald Trump does not become the presidential nominee.
McConnell was one of several Republicans who were at a dinner hosted by Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus last week, which reportedly discussed how mainstream Republicans should try to squeeze Trump out at the convention if he starts winning states.
But McConnell said Tuesday that the dinner was just a normal get-together.
“We were just talking about politics, you know,” McConnell said. “Bunch of politicians talking about politics.”
“No conspiracy theories that I heard,” he added.
“It’s just a group that gets together periodically, and has no particular agenda, and certainly has no ability to control any particular outcome,” he continued. “It was like a discussion group.”
But when pressed, McConnell stressed that the meeting was off-the-record, and that he didn’t want to talk about more than was said.
“It’s supposed to be off the record, and I was among those rather appalled to hear people who were in the meeting talking about it,” he said at a breakfast event in Washington hosted by Politico.
The Washington Post reported that GOP leaders are getting ready to ensure the nominating convention results in a candidate other than front-runner Donald Trump.
That led both Trump and Ben Carson to warn that the Republican Party must treat them fairly, and not maneuver to ensure a more traditional candidate becomes the nominee.
