Anti-Trump Efforts Abandon Push to Force Floor Vote to Unbind
"We now go into Plan B," Kendal Unruh told ABC News.
CLEVELAND -- Anti-Trump forces are abandoning an effort to force a vote on the full convention floor to let GOP delegates vote for whomever they choose, according to Kendal Unruh, the Colorado delegate who spearheaded an effort that tanked in the rules panel late last night.
"Why mess with trying to whip the votes again with a minority report? It's a waste of time," Unruh told ABC News this afternoon, citing pressure and threats over the process.
Unruh said she will not pursue a minority report. Only 21 rules panel members voted to even discuss the amendment -- fewer than the 28 members needed to force a vote on the floor.
Instead, Unruh is joining a related effort insisting that delegates can already vote their consciences under the current rules.
"We now go into Plan B," she said. "Plan B is that the delegates take ownership of that inherent right."
RNC leaders disagree, and the rules panel passed even more language insisting delegates are bound last night.
"The rules committee is not granting us any rights," she said. "The rules committee is now irrelevant."
She added: "They have to now take the baton. The delegates have the power: Take the power."