Trump camp scrutinizes Arizona delegates in move to prevent disruptions at convention

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign moved this week to quash a potential disturbance at next month’s GOP convention in Milwaukee by seeking to replace six delegates to the convention who they thought were potentially going to initiate “unnecessary distractions” on the floor.

John Findlay, the Trump campaign’s convention delegate selection director, placed phone calls to six of the campaign’s “alternate delegates” in Arizona and requested that they challenge the status of six delegates to the convention out of concern for their loyalty to Trump, according to correspondence obtained by NBC News.

Days later, however, the Trump campaign abandoned efforts to replace the delegates, saying it “cleared the air” with the delegates who sparked the concerns after days of deliberation.

On Thursday night, the Trump campaign’s political director, James Blair, posted on X an explanation of the campaign’s decision to pull back on its request for challenges.

“As true MAGA patriots, [the alternate delegates] challenged several AZ delegates to the Republican National Convention to prevent unnecessary distractions from being organized during President Trump’s formal nomination,” Blair’s statement reads. “Given AZ delegation chair [Shelby] Busch’s public clearing of the air and commitment to following the campaign’s lead, we feel it is appropriate for the six to withdraw their challenges.”

As of Friday morning, each of the six alternate delegates had withdrawn their challenge.

“This was not started by anyone in the Arizona delegation or of the alternates,” said one of the alternate delegates who filed a challenge and requested anonymity. “It was presented to us from someone on the Trump team, and we were helping the campaign.”

The move