Former President Donald Trump is rebuking claims in a new book that he ever threatened to exit the G.O.P.
"Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show" recounts the last days of Trump's time in the White House. The book was written by Jonathan Karl, the chief Washington correspondent for ABC News, who says Trump's threat came after he was revealed to be on the losing end of the 2020 Presidential election, where he ran for a second term but was beaten by former Vice President Joe Biden.
Karl's book claims that Trump's threat to leave the Republican party came during what was described as a "very unpleasant" phone call with RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who had called to "wish him farewell" after his loss.
"Donald Trump was in no mood for small talk or nostalgic goodbyes," Karl writes. "He got right to the point. He told her he was leaving the Republican Party and would be creating his own political party. The president's son Donald Trump Jr. was also on the phone. The younger Trump had been relentlessly denigrating the RNC for being insufficiently loyal to Trump. In fact, at the Jan. 6 rally before the Capitol riot, the younger Trump all but declared that the old Republican Party didn't exist anymore."
Karl says at that point, McDaniel asked Trump to remain a member of the political party, predicting "we will lose forever" if he left.
Trump's response, according to Karl: "Exactly. You lose forever without me… I don't care."
Karl goes on to allege that Trump was planning to start his own political party but made an about-face when the RNC threatened to withhold its list of over 40 million donors who had funded Trump's campaigns in the past and to "stop paying legal bills incurred during post-election challenges."
Trump has responded to the claims with a written statement that reads, in part, "It's a totally made up and fabricated story, it's fake news. Jonathan Karl is a third-rate reporter working for ABC Non-News," according to The Hill.
