Trump pushes back against RNC proposal to declare him Republican nominee

The Republican National Committee has withdrawn a resolution to declare former President Donald Trump as the party’s nominee for the third election cycle in a row.

The withdrawal comes after Mr Trump took to Truth Social insisting that he wants to win the nomination the “old fashioned way” and not become the nominee before his last challenger – his former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley – has been beaten “at the ballot box”.

“While I greatly appreciate the Republican National Committee (RNC) wanting to make me their PRESUMPTIVE NOMINEE, and while they have far more votes than necessary to do it, I feel, for the sake of PARTY UNITY, that they should NOT go forward with this plan, but that I should do it the ‘Old Fashioned’ way, and finish the process off AT THE BALLOT BOX. Thank you to the RNC for the Respect and Devotion you have shown me!”? he wrote on Truth Social on Thursday.

In order to win the Republican nomination, a candidate needs to garner 1,215 delegates. Mr Trump has so far gathered 32 to Ms Haley’s 17.

The resolution was set to be “taken up by the Resolutions Committee” to decide if it should be sent on “to be voted on by the 168 RNC members at our annual meeting next week,” Keith Schipper, an RNC spokesperson, told Axios before the resolution was withdrawn.

He noted that RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel “doesn’t offer resolutions” and that the drafts are brought by RNC members.

The RNC moving to declare Mr Trump its nominee was initially reported by The Dispatch.

Olivia Perez-Cubas, a spokesperson for the Haley campaign, told Axios: “Who cares what the RNC says? We’ll let millions of Republican voters across the country decide who should be our party’s nominee, not a bunch of Washington insiders.”

Mr Trump won the