Former President Donald Trump denied reports that he threatened to leave the Republican Party and start his own party after losing the 2020 general election.
The claim itself was presented in ABC Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl’s forthcoming book, Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show.
“ABC Non News and 3rd rate reporter Jonathan Karl have been writing fake news about me from the beginning of my political career,” Trump said in a statement responding to Karl’s claim. “Just look at what has now been revealed about the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. It was a made up and totally fabricated scam and the lamestream media knew it. It just never ends!”
TRUMP AIDES TEMPER RUMORS HE WILL LAUNCH THIRD PARTY
Trump also confirmed on Monday that he will be delivering a speech and taking part in a roundtable later that evening at the National Republican Congressional Committee dinner in Tampa, Florida.
Karl wrote that Trump made the threat during a phone call with Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel that took place on Trump’s final flight on Air Force One, which carried him from Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington, D.C., to his post-White House home in South Florida.
According to Karl, Trump accused McDaniel and the RNC of failing to back his claims of election fraud and declared that he would take retribution by launching his own party.
“I’m done,” Karl claims Trump told McDaniel. “I’m starting my own party.”
McDaniel reportedly pushed back by telling Trump Republicans would “lose forever” if he did indeed leave the GOP.
“Exactly. You lose forever without me,” Trump allegedly responded. “I don’t care.”
Karl goes on to claim that five days later, the RNC threatened Trump that if he were to move forward with his plan, they would stop funding his election fraud lawsuits and somehow render the Trump campaign’s 40 million-strong email list “worthless.” Trump eventually backed off his threat, according to Karl’s book.
A number of RNC officials outright denied Karl’s claims.
“This is false, I have never threatened President Trump with anything,” McDaniel said in a statement. “He and I have a great relationship. We have worked tirelessly together to elect Republicans up and down the ballot, and will continue to do so.”
Three current and former RNC officials also told the Washington Examiner that they had no knowledge of the reported call between Trump and McDaniel nor the RNC’s reported counterthreat.
A number of Trump aides also shot down reports in January that the former president was exploring launching a “Patriot Party.”
Trump’s then-spokesman Jason Miller said at the time that Trump “has made clear his goal is to win back the House and Senate for Republicans in 2022. There’s nothing that’s actively being planned regarding an effort outside of that.”
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“No, we should not start the Patriot Party. We should work very hard on the Republican Party,” Trump’s former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell added in an interview. “Clearly, Donald Trump is a Republican and should run again as a Republican.”
