North Dakota’s Republican Party chairman was the first casualty of infighting at the GOP convention Monday.
Gary Emineth, a top donor for Donald Trump and the now former leader of the state’s conservative party, texted his resignation to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus late Monday.
“I was on the Trump finance committee and I just resigned because that bully tactic is absurd,” Emineth told The Hill. “I just texted them right now. Why can’t the people be heard? I’ve been texting Reince for 10 minutes. He said we didn’t have the votes. We had 10, 11 states. They peeled people back. They were calling delegations asking people to step off the committee. You don’t do this in America. You do this in other countries.”
Emineth said he quit because he was disgusted with how party officials killed its “Free the Delegates” movement on the floor of the convention movement. While Emineth supports Trump, he said the issue is bigger than that, and said delegates need the freedom to vote how they want.
“It was never about Trump — it’s about giving the individual a right to voice themselves. It’s time to reform the party,” Emineth tweeted shortly after resigning.
#RNCinCLE # “It was never about Trump- it’s about giving the individual a right to voice themselves. It’s time to reform the party.”
— Gary Emineth (@GaryEmineth) July 18, 2016
Emineth argued the party’s leadership made the move in an attempt to force support for the presumptive nominee and not allow delegates to walk back their previous choices and vote their consciences.
The RNC maintained it only received enough signatures for six states after three states’ delegates revoked their cooperation. But Emineth believes the states were bullied out supporting the movement last minute.
“If that’s how they’re doing the Republican Party, they can have it,” Emineth said. He also called on Priebus to resign for his handling of the floor.
