RNC Chair McDaniel: I Will Support Trump as Nominee

Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said Sunday that as the committee's leader, she'll support former President Donald Trump as the party's 2024 presidential nominee if the voters pick him, even if he's convicted of a crime in one of the prosecutions underway against him.

"Whoever the voters choose is the appropriate [nominee]," McDaniel said on CNN's "State of the Union." "I know this is newsworthy and as party chair, I'll support who the voters choose, if they choose Donald Trump."

The voters, she added, are "looking at this and they believe there's a two-tiered system of justice," she added. "They don't believe a lot of the things that are coming out of this, and they're making these decisions. You're seeing that reflected in the polls."

According to all current polling, Trump is the clear front-runner for the nomination.

He hasn't participated in any of the RNC's debates, but McDaniel Sunday said she still finds value in the events.

"Some of the things we've done with this debate process have been very instrumental," she said. "We started with 14 candidates in 2015. Going into Iowa, there were still two stages and 10 candidates in that race."

But now, with the RNC's new rules requiring stricter polling criteria and small-donor donation limits, "we are now to five on the debate stage," she said. "It's helping us engage with the volunteers."

McDaniel also on Sunday discussed the party's stance on abortion, telling CNN that she believes the Republicans should be the "commonsense" party on abortion and that candidates should stick to that message to win elections in the future.

"We actually put a memo out before the elections in 2022," McDaniel said. "It's up to the candidates if they take those suggestions. As I always say, if I give my husband directions in the car, it doesn't mean he's going to take them, right? But we have to talk about this."

She used newly elected Virginia GOP state Sen. Danny Diggs as an example, saying he did a "fantastic job" about the issue to win his race.

"He put his daughter in an ad, and she was compassionate," McDaniel said. "She understood women. She wasn't coming at them as criminals because they have ... differences of opinion, and she articulated her dad's position."

Meanwhile, Ohio voters last Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to embed the right to an abortion in the state's constitution, but McDaniel said she thinks there was a "message problem" in the way the issue was presented.

"It was disingenuous with voters and it has galvanized money to the left," she said. "Democrats spent nine times as much on abortion ads as did Republicans. We cannot let Democrats fearmonger or this issue.

"We, of course, want lifesaving care for miscarriages and we support lifesaving care ... They are going on TV and using Roe to scare people and misrepresent Republicans on this issue, and I think our candidates have to get out in front of it."

Commonsense limitations, she added, is "where the country is."

"I think most Americans do think there should be a limitation when you know a baby feels pain, as you're taking its life at 15 weeks," said McDaniel. "I think that's where Republicans are saying this is a consensus position, and they're welcoming the Democrats. Why don't you meet us here? It is a personal issue."

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