‘I’m Done!’ Trump Angrily Told RNC Chair He Was Leaving GOP in Final Hours of His Presidency Per ABC News
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An upcoming book on Donald Trump’s last days in office says the former president threatened to leave the Republican Party during his final departure from the White House.
ABC News’ Jon Karl has released a new excerpt of Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show, his book about how Trump’s presidency ended in chaos and anger after losing re-election. The book alleges that as Trump got on Air Force One to leave Washington D.C. for the last time, he told GOP leaders over the phone that he would start his own political party, and he didn’t care about the damage that would’ve done to the Republicans.
According to Karl’s sources, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel called Trump to wish him farewell on January 20th, but the call quickly turned into “a very un-pleasant conversation.” It was in that conversation where the president and his son, Donald Trump Jr., reportedly chewed out the GOP for being insufficiently loyal to him, and that his leave-taking was his punishment for the party.
From the conversation, as per Karl:
“I’m done,” Trump told McDaniel. “I’m starting my own party.”
“You cannot do that,” McDaniel told Trump. “If you do, we will lose forever.”
“Exactly. You lose forever without me,” Trump responded. “I don’t care…This is what Republicans deserve for not sticking up for me”
Karl’s book goes on to say McDaniel convened with RNC leaders after the call, and they responded by telling Trump that if he left them, “the party would immediately stop paying legal bills incurred during post-election challenges.” The RNC also reportedly threatened to take control of Trump’s email list valued at $100 million because of the money flow it facilitates.
Following that counter-threat, Trump reportedly abandoned his ideas of leaving the GOP. Both he and McDaniel denied the story to ABC though, with the former president grumbling that “ABC Non News and 3rd rate reporter Jonathan Karl have been writing fake news about me from the beginning of my political career…”
The book excerpt comes after previous reports have suggested Trump’s interest in going third party, and that many Republicans would leave the party to follow him if he did. Of course, Trump also has a well-documented history of making threats and promises where he doesn’t actually follow through.
