This fall she faces a challenge to her House seat from real estate business owner LuAnn Bennett, a Democrat who hopes to tie the congresswoman to her party’s presidential nominee.
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Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says Republicans should rally around NY businessman Donald Trump or consider leaving the party completely. Marco Rubio in the GOP primary, but was not as critical of Trump as many establishment Republicans had been throughout the divisive primary. Graham said that Trump has “united the party around the idea that we need to all vote to protect the Republican majorities in the House and the Senate”.
Mr Trump said he was taken aback by Mr Ryan’s rebuke.
Trump said earlier he was taken aback by Ryan’s rebuke. “Save your vote for the general election, OK?” he told them.
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination, posted on Facebook that he will not vote for Trump – one of the sharpest slights yet against the NY real estate mogul by a senior Republican.
Trump and Ryan are due to meet Thursday on Capitol Hill, where Trump also is due to meet with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and top congressional Republicans in an effort to unify a Republican Party that’s becoming increasing fractured now that Trump is the party’s standard-bearer. Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has flatly refused to back Trump; House Speaker Paul Ryan says he can not support him “for now”; and Arizona senator John McCain says he will not attend the Republican National Convention later this year.
In his latest surprising breach of orthodoxy on Friday Trump questioned whether the US government would make good on its commitment to fully honor Treasury notes, suggesting he might try to get a better deal. “And like the voters who rejected him, so will I!”
Speaking with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in an interview set to air Sunday, Trump said he doesn’t think he needs to earn Ryan’s support and previewed a message he’ll deliver to the speaker next week.
“The issue here isn’t about Donald Trump – if you can’t hold yourself to the standard that you hold everyone else, the problem is with you”, Pierson said.
In a sign some Republicans are rallying around Trump, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts, whose family has helped bankroll an anti-Trump group, is set to endorse him on Friday.
US President Barack Obama.
So then why won’t he support Donald Trump yet?
“There are many opportunities for him to show, not just through the tone of what he says but through actual policy changes, ‘I am different, I have a different approach and I want to get things done, ‘” Pepper said.
Many GOP leaders have only said they’ll back the nominee – likely Trump – but a growing number have backed Trump by name.
“We all make a mistake if we don’t take (Trump) seriously”, Biden told CNN affiliate KDKA.
Graham’s refusal to support Trump is another stark illustration of the schism within the GOP – especially in the field of candidates who ran for president.
Trump’s campaign responded to Graham’s statement Friday, attacking his failed campaign for the nomination.
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“Certainly we would look at everybody”, Carson said.
