Donald Trump has rejected a draft resolution submitted to the Republican National Committee (RNC) hoping to recognise him as the GOP’s “presumptive nominee” in the wake of his victory in the New Hampshire presidential primary on Tuesday over his last remaining opponent Nikki Haley.
The front-runner said it was in the best interests of “party unity” that he continue with the primaries and win “the old fashioned way”.
The resolution was subsequently withdrawn but a spokesperson from Ms Haley’s campaign responded angrily, asking: “Who cares what the RNC says?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.”
Since her defeat in New Hampshire, Ms Haley has fought back, attempting to pitch herself as a Tea Party original in an explicit appeal to Mr Trump’s hard-right base.
“Trump says I’m not conservative. That makes me laugh,” she wrote on X on Thursday night.
“I’m a Tea Party governor. I took on the establishment in South Carolina. That’s why they didn’t like me very much. But I don’t care if the swamp likes me. I’m fighting for YOU.”
