The Republican National Committee (RNC) is preparing for the possibility that former President Donald Trump, the GOP’s presumptive nominee, will be jailed during the party’s convention, the party’s chairman said Tuesday.
“Yes, we’re working on that right now,” Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said Tuesday during an appearance on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America.”
“I’m actually going to be in Milwaukee this week to have a series of discussions,” he said.
Trump was convicted of all 34 felony counts in the hush money case last Thursday. A New York jury found him guilty of falsifying business records to hide alleged extramarital affairs during the 2016 presidential campaign. Judge Juan Marchand said the sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 11, just four days before the start of the Republican National Convention.
Trump has vowed to appeal the sentence, making it unlikely he will serve any prison time while his appeal is ongoing. Republican senators and other Republicans outraged by the ruling have warned that Trump’s freedom of movement should not be curtailed by the punishment.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) called for the Supreme Court to intervene.
Whatley said the Republican National Committee expects the former president to be formally nominated at the party’s convention in Milwaukee in mid-July.
“We are hopeful that Donald Trump will be able to come to Milwaukee and accept the nomination, and if he is not, we will have all the contingency plans necessary to make that happen,” he said. “But the fact is, he will be our nominee and he will be the 47th president of the United States.”
Whatley, who was elected committee chair in March, did not provide details about the plans but added that “everything is on the table” about options for continuing to communicate with Trump’s supporters whether he is in prison or not.
“We’ll cross that bridge, but we have to go some distance on this, which we certainly plan to do,” Whatley said Tuesday. “We’re looking at it and we’re working on it right now, but what we want to do is have a show that promotes Donald Trump and his vision for America, and that sets the stage for this election cycle.”
The North Carolina Republican added that the former president “will communicate directly with the American voter, as he always does.”
Republican National Committee Co-Chair Lara Trump similarly said Sunday that the RNC had to be “prepared for anything” regarding Trump, but said the committee has “some” plans in place to pivot as the convention approaches.
“It’s ironic that we had to rush this case and then we have to wait over a month for a verdict,” she said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “Obviously, everybody notices the irony.”
“But yes, we have to have plans in place for when it happens and we’re going to have some contingency plans in place,” she added. “The truth is, it doesn’t really matter whether it’s from Trump Tower in Manhattan, or from Mar-a-Lago, or from our convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We’re going to nominate Donald Trump for the Republican nomination, and that’s all that matters in the end.”
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
