NEW: Trump tries to use his waning power to influence the RNC's upcoming vote to pick a new chair. Party stalwarts would prefer the lame duck butt out. businessinsider.com/trump-republic…
"It's a little disturbing that the RNC would be controlled by a candidate," said one Republican close to the president. "The members are stunned."
"The 168 want to be back in power," said a former RNC official, referring to the number of committee members from the states and U.S. territories who ultimately vote on who will lead them.
Much much more here inside the fight for control of the RNC!
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The effort to deny Trump the nomination was more extensive than previously reported -- went beyond just Access Hollywood weekend. (Lots of details here - Gates says he has more coming in his book out in October)
Gates went on-record for this story with a lot of details that others have been chatting about in private for years now
NEWS: A Republican central to Trump's reelection campaign, Katie Walsh, led secret talks to remove him from the 2016 ballot, sources say businessinsider.com/katie-walsh-le…
In an exclusive interview with Insider, Rick GATES, detailed for the first time Walsh's discussions about removing Trump from the ballot in 2016
"To come into the fold and take credit for his win, and making it look like you helped him win, that's what I have a problem with," Gates told Insider.
Republicans close to the campaign repeatedly gave credit to Stepien and Miller for the (relatively) tighter focus from Trump of late, including shorter press briefings at WH ...
BUT, @JasonMillerinDC said it was all Trump - and he's just happy to go along with it: "I would love to pretend that I had some special influence. It was the president's idea. My job is just to say that 'I agree with you.'"
"As you can see behind me, we have removed the extraordinary regulatory burden" Trump says, w/ crane and pickup truck stage setup behind him ... no printouts of federal register spotted
Trump now claiming credit for "historically low gas prices" ... does not mention oil market tanking months ago
Trump mentions that he brought back incandescent lightbulbs ... no mention of windows
What happened at the Trump campaign?? Classic DC-style “layering” - @parscale keeps title of campaign manager and Bill Stepien takes the reins. The details here: businessinsider.com/kushner-revamp…
Talk to eight different factions in Trump World and get eight different stories — but the central nugget remains: Kushner (and Trump) moved Stepien up at the campaign following a dismal two month slide
Some folks said this was always the plan, move Parscale aside after Memorial Day — but the final straw seemed to be a Thursday meeting at the White House w the battleground state directors from AZ and FL ... all the details packed in there (subscription reqd - and worth it)
Trump walks into the National Prayer Breakfast and flashes newspapers w/ giant headlines declaring his acquittal in Senate ... and now up is Nancy Pelosi
Pelosi praying for persecuted religious minorities around globe right now
Pelosi seemed to ignore Trump earlier when he was waving around the newspapers