The Republican National Committee on Thursday declined a request by presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson to modify the RNC's requirement that all GOP candidates pledge to support the eventual nominee, Politico reported. Candidates who do not sign the pledge will be barred from participating in GOP presidential primary debates. Hutchinson, the former Arkansas governor, reportedly wanted an out if the nominee turns out to be a criminal.
Hutchinson told Politico on Wednesday, a day after former President Donald Trump was arraigned on 37 federal felony counts, that he is "not going to vote for him if he's a convicted felon. ... I'm not going to vote for him if he's convicted of espionage, and I'm not going to vote for him if he's (convicted of) other serious crimes. And I'm not going to support him." RNC leaders, he added, "need to put a little rationality to what is said in that oath or that pledge."
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