RNC’s McDaniel Has ‘Feeling’ Trump Will Sign Loyalty Pledge

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Ronna McDaniel has a “feeling” former President Donald Trump will ultimately sign the party’s loyalty pledge to attend the first primary debate Aug. 23 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

“He’s signed the pledge before,” McDaniel said Thursday on NewsNation’s “The Hill.” “He signed it to get on the South Carolina ballot. I have a feeling if he wants to be on the debate stage, he’s going to sign that pledge.”

Explaining that the RNC is calling the pledge “the Beat Biden pledge,” McDaniel stressed that the candidates on the debate stage should “support the will of the voters to do what is most important to every Republican in this country, which is beating Joe Biden.”

Her comments come as Trump has yet to announce whether or not he will participate in next week’s Republican primary debate in Milwaukee. The former president has said he will not sign the pledge, which is required to appear on the debate stage.

On Thursday, McDaniel said she has not received a definitive answer as to whether Trump will attend next week.

“If he told me, he could still change his mind,” she added.

The RNC chair has previously said she thinks it would be a mistake for Trump to skip the debates.

“I think it’s a mistake to not to do the debates, but that’s going to be up to him and his campaign,” McDaniel told Fox News last month.

Thus far, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott have signed the pledge. Former Vice President Mike Pence has also indicated that he will sign it.

This isn’t the first time the RNC has been the last to know about Trump’s pledge intentions.

In August 2015, he was the only candidate on stage at the first GOP primary debate not to raise his hand to show he would support the party’s eventual nominee.

According to The Hill, Trump wound up signing a loyalty pledge in September 2015 but said he was no longer abiding by it in March 2016. By then, the Republican field of 17 candidates had been whittled down to three.