The RNC has called a meeting, 5pm EST. Top officials. Any guesses?
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) October 10, 2016
Despite rumors that the Republican National Committee was diverting funds away from Donald Trump to down-ballot races, Chairman Reince Priebus confirmed that the party stands behind the nominee. This was made official after an emergency 5 p.m. conference call with party officials. On the other hand, Katie wrote about Speaker of the House Paul Ryan yanking his support of Trump’s candidacy and will instead focus on keeping the Republican majority in the House (via Politico):
Over the last 24 to 48 hours there have been a lot of false rumors that we didn’t want to engage in,” Priebus told the 168 members of the RNC, many of whom have also stood behind Trump, according to a person on the call. “Nothing has changed in terms of our support for the nominee.”Priebus told them that Trump had issued a “heartfelt” apology and that “I think the issue was taken care of at the debate.” Three people on the call verified Priebus’ remarks.
The Priebus call came hours after Speaker Paul Ryan held a conference call of his own for jittery House Republicans and declared that he would no longer defend Trump on the campaign trail, or ever campaign with him.
The Trump campaign was on the verge of a total meltdown after last Friday’s leaked audio of the Republican nominee making graphic remarks about groping women to then-Access Hollywood co-host Billy Bush, who has since been suspended from his current role on NBC’s the Today show. Trump had a stronger performance at the second presidential debate last night, which helped stop the bleeding, though polls show that Hillary Clinton has surged against him.