Trump: #NeverTrump was 'crushed,' ceases to exist

Donald Trump is celebrating a vote by members of the Republican National Convention Rules Committee late Thursday night that effectively eliminated the possibility of delegates unbinding themselves to support another candidate at next week's convention.

"#NeverTrump is never more," the presumptive GOP presidential nominee tweeted Friday morning.

The 112-member rules committee defeated a proposal 87-12 Thursday night that would have altered existing party rules to allow delegates to "vote their conscience" on the convention floor in Cleveland. The amendment was proposed by "Free the Delegates" leader Kendal Unruh and supported by Utah Sen. Mike Lee, but failed to snag the 28 yay votes needed to bring it to a vote before all 2,472 delegates.

"A lot of the focus today has been, understandably, on expanding our party, and making its appeal broader — making those who feel excluded from it feel more included. And, that's important. We send the opposite signal every time we take our rules and we clamp down on our rules further, we make it less possible for delegates to exercise to have a voice in this process," Lee told reporters shortly after the measure failed.

Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort also praised the rules committee on Friday for defeating Unruh's proposals.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tr...rticle/2596614