CLEVELAND — Republican National Convention leaders secured the support needed to thwart an anti-Trump rebellion in advance of a floor fight, not during an unexplained break that delayed the process, according to the presiding chair of the convention.
“There was a question backstage about, more than anything, the cleanliness of it all,” Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., who held the gavel when a faction of delegates who oppose Donald Trump were denied a last-ditch attempt to oust Donald Trump from his place as presumptive GOP nominee for president. “Let’s go back and let’s do the no vote, repeat the vote, and let’s do that so that everybody can be heard.”
When Womack returned from the “pause,” he announced that a number of crucial delegates had withdrawn their support from a petition to hold a recorded vote on changing the rules. That caught Trump’s opponents by surprise, because they had spent the day rounding up signatures.
They needed a majority in seven states, under RNC rules, but Trump’s team was able to flip four state GOP delegations. Party leaders said this kept them below the seven-state threshold, although some rebel delegates claimed they had reached a majority in 11 states.
“There was really no issue,” Womack said. “During the voice vote there was a lot of confusion but at that time nobody had explained to the convention hall, to the delegates, that the threshold for a roll call vote, seven states, had not been met. So when I went out, my instructions were to go ahead and call for the vote and of course you saw the chaos.”
At that point, he paused the vote process and met backstage with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, Trump campaign senior adviser Paul Manafort, and the convention parliamentarian to decide how to proceed. “And we agreed to go back down, repeat the no vote and allow me to get a chance for the floor, which I pleaded for and I got and explain, upon Mr. Lee’s request for a roll call, that the test wasn’t made,” Womack said.
The delay was not designed to buy time for the state delegations to revoke their petitions, according to the Arkansas Republican. “It happened before I went out the first time,” Womack said.
