The directive didn’t come from “Never Trumpers” who want to stop the party from nominating a felon when delegates meet in Milwaukee next month. Rather, it came from “America First” devotees plotting a challenge from the far right — a plot to free delegates from their pledge to support Trump, according to people who attended and were briefed on the meeting, presentation slides and private letters obtained by The Washington Post.
The delegation said the ruse would require the backing of other state delegations, but it was unclear whether those allies were in place. One idea discussed as attendees ate finger food was for the conspirators to wear matching black jackets to show their loyalty to one another.
The exact purpose of the ploy was unclear, baffling and alarming some of the delegation. A person familiar with the meeting, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, said the intent was probably to block an undesirable running mate. Most of the 12 Republican officials and activists interviewed by The Washington Post even suggested the goal might have been to install former national security adviser Michael Flynn to replace Trump if he was sentenced to prison. There is growing suspicion among some on the far right that the former president surrounded himself with too many advisers subservient to the “deep state.”
Whatever the goal, the Trump campaign quickly thwarted the scheme and swapped the delegates. One campaign staffer involved in the cleanup told at least two Republicans that it was an “existential threat” to Trump’s nomination next month, two people familiar with the conversations told The Washington Post. The staffer told another Republican that the scenario the Arizona delegates had discussed, while unlikely, was “the only way we could stop Trump from getting the nomination.”
The events unfolded largely out of sight in Arizona, a battleground state where Republicans have particularly strong doubts about the integrity of the election.
The campaign and Arizona’s delegates agreed to prevent any disruptions to the convention. other The event was held with the participation of the state delegation, according to a campaign official who was not authorized to speak publicly, but declined to elaborate.
The fracas underscored how tricky it will be to run next month’s convention in Milwaukee, which will feature about 5,000 delegates and alternates, many of whom are committed to the lies and conspiracy theories that animate many of Trump’s supporters.
“Look, this is what happens when good and evil are at odds,” Chris Hamlett, one of the Arizona representatives involved in the plan, said in a private message chat with other representatives. “We’re never going to get along and hold hands and sing Kumbaya. It’s not going to work that way.”
After the 2016 Republican National Convention, which briefly devolved into a bitter altercation as Trump’s GOP opponents tried to block his nomination, the Trump campaign has been working quietly and steadily to select delegates who are unwaveringly loyal to Trump in case his losing primary opponent tries to disrupt the proceedings.
This year’s delegates include at least one organizer of the rally that preceded the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol, as well as individuals who have been indicted for allegedly taking part in a strategy to falsely declare that Trump won states in 2020.
Still, suspicions are rife among Trump supporters that covert saboteurs have somehow infiltrated their campaign. At the Georgia Republican convention in May, one delegate candidate withdrew after being accused of lobbying for Dominion Voting Systems, a frequent target of false claims of fraud in the 2020 election.
“I have had to spend too much time dealing with intraparty power struggles and local party animosity,” Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy said in his resignation letter this month. “Some Republicans prefer to fight other Republicans rather than engage in the difficult work of convincing swing voters to vote Republican and defeat incumbent Democrats.”
Next month’s convention is expected to be a formality – a made-for-television event – where delegates will echo a decision already made by Republican primary voters, who overwhelmingly supported Trump this year.
That makes the explanation for Arizona’s rule changes so puzzling, according to Republican officials and activists interviewed for this article.
“Suspending the rules would allow for an open forum to consider alternatives to President Trump,” said one person involved in the state’s delegate race.
Several other Republicans who took part in the discussion suggested the same idea – a motivation centered around money.
“I think they don’t really want us to win… They’re making money off anything to do with the integrity of the election,” the Republican said of activists who have aligned themselves with the wildest conspiracy theories of voter fraud. “They’re making money if we lose.”
Leading the delegation that worried the Trump campaign was Shelby Bush, chair of the Arizona delegation and leader of a political action committee she helped found in 2020.
The group, We the People AZ Alliance, has raised nearly $1 million, according to state campaign finance records, and is closely aligned with Republican Senate candidate Kali Lake, with much of the funding coming from groups with ties to prominent election deniers, including Flynn and Patrick Byrne, a former Overstock.com executive who is no longer with the company.
Byrne wrote in a post on X on Tuesday that, judging by some of Trump’s support, Trump “is still surrounded by little-known Deep State people” who are telling him to pick a vice president who won’t be in his shadow. “Within two weeks Trump will be in jail or under house arrest,” Byrne wrote. “His vice president needs to be a general.” The post tagged Flynn’s social media profiles.
Mr. Bush convened the June meeting, and another delegate, party activist Joe Neglia, gave a presentation that included information about a ploy to suspend the convention rules and take over proceedings from the floor, according to people who attended the meeting or were briefed on it. Mr. Neglia declined to comment.
When the Trump campaign learned of the meeting, campaign staff began working with local party officials and activists to recruit new delegates to replace the six who had shown up.
“The leaders of this group, Shelby Bush and Joe Neglia, are plotting in multiple states to suspend rules at the national convention,” the campaign said in a memo outlining plans to recruit and swear in new delegates to replace the six.
Bush’s group has hit back, accusing those challenging their status of being part of “anti-Trump establishment groups” and trying to sabotage Trump from within his own campaign and the Republican National Committee.
“This is a coordinated effort by our political opponents using the same despicable Democratic tactics they displayed against our beloved President Trump,” her group said in a statement this week. “Arizona grassroots patriots who love President Donald Trump overwhelmingly voted for our delegation because they know us, our work in Arizona to save our state and country, our unwavering support for Trump, and they know they can trust us to vote for them even if Trump is incarcerated.”
(President Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on 34 felony counts in New York on July 11, just days before the convention begins.)
Mr. Bush reached a deal with the campaign on Thursday that would see Mr. Neglia step down, other delegates stay on and there would be no insurrection on the floor, people familiar with the discussions said. The resolution eased the threat but left some volunteer delegates feeling betrayed after standing up to support the campaign and then being abandoned after facing criticism.
“This was an initiative by the campaign and the Republican National Committee,” one of the replacements hired said. “There was no reason for us to do this other than to support the campaign.”
Another volunteer, in private chat room messages obtained by The Washington Post, said he was dismayed by “the immature language used against a fellow delegate,” adding, “These actions were taken at the request of the candidate whom we are all legally bound to and proud to nominate in the coming weeks.”
The campaign’s political director, James Blair, tried to defuse the situation by issuing a public statement endorsing the Bush campaign, thanking them for their efforts and praising them for their loyalty to Trump.
“This isn’t just about loyalty to Trump, it’s about the willingness not to create distractions from four days of commerce, celebrating and celebrating President Trump’s historic nomination,” a campaign official said. “There are Trump supporters on all sides. Sometimes people want to use the occasion to fight over petty things, but we don’t want that. We don’t want any distractions.”
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Arizona Republican Party wrote a letter to his conservative colleagues that the delegation’s private conversations were distracting.
“Closing the thread,” the post read. “It is undermining our ability to function as a team.”
