Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), who dropped out of the presidential race the day following the Indiana primary, on Monday said he was disappointed about the way Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus reacted to Donald Trump’s win in the state.
“The interesting part about that is when Indiana happened, and you had the chairman of the Republican party endorse Trump, which I thought was completely inappropriate…” Kasich told CNN’s Anderson Cooper when asked whether he had second thoughts about dropping out of the race.
Kasich was likely referring to a tweet from Priebus calling Trump the “presumptive nominee” after the real estate mogul won the Indiana primary.
Cooper asked Kasich why Priebus’ statement was inappropriate.
“Well, I’m still there, you know,” Kasich replied. “He just wanted to get this thing over. I’m not happy about it. But anyway, neither here nor there, we learn to forgive and forget.”
The Ohio governor then explained how he decided to drop out of the race the day after the Indiana primary. Kasich said he had wanted to stay in the race for a few more days, attempt to raise more money, and see if Republicans would rally around him.
“But they did not want me to say that, my team, unanimously, because if you say we’re going to see how it works, then the media puts a death watch on you until you’re dead,” Kasich said on CNN. “I was thinking, ‘How do I reconcile the fact I’m going to tell people that I’m going to run hard as I can to the convention, knowing that in 48 or 72 hours or whatever that I might drop out?'”
Kasch told Cooper that he decided to drop out while sitting on a plane set to fly to Washington, D.C.
“I would have been disingenuous to have had an interview with you saying, ‘We’re going all the way,’ knowing in the back of my mind we might be gone in 72 hours,” he said.
H/t Mediaite
