The Republican National Committee on Monday pushed back against Donald Trump’s complaints that the party “stacked” the audience at the Saturday Republican presidential debate with donors.
During a rally on Monday, Trump suggested that the RNC had broken the loyalty pledge Trump signed when he swore off a third-party presidential bid.
“The RNC does a terrible job, a terrible job. And just remember what I said, remember in this room, I signed a pledge, but it’s a double-edged pledge, and as far as I’m concerned, their in default of their pledge,” Trump said at a Monday campaign event.
Later in the day, Trump accused the RNC of filling the debate audience with members of the establishment.
“The room has been stacked with special interests and donors,” Trump said, arguing that the RNC did not treat him fairly on Saturday.
But the RNC disputed Trump’s claims. RNC Spokesman Sean Spicer told the New York Times that out of about 1,600 tickets, only 10 went to RNC donors. He said that the RNC gave 300 tickets to activists and divided 600 tickets evenly among the six Republican presidential candidates. The South Carolina Republican party and CBS, the debate’s host, received the rest of the tickets, Spicer told the New York Times.
