Newsmax Host Grills RNC Chair On Trump Sentencing Days Before Convention: You Prepared for a ‘Rikers Island’ Speech?
Newsmax anchor Rob Finnerty grilled Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley on the possibility that former President Donald Trump be forced to deliver his convention speech “from Rikers Island.”
Trump is set to be sentenced on July 11 after having been found guilty in the Manhattan hush money case, just four days before the Republican National Convention — where Trump will officially become the party’s presidential nominee. If sentenced to jail time, Trump will miss out on the Milwaukee convention—ironically, the city he blasted just last week as “horrible” and “crime ridden,” according to a report.
Interviewing the RNC chair on Tuesday, Finnerty asked: “Mr. Chairman, how concerned are you that your candidate’s in jail the week of the convention?”
Whatley replied: “We fully expect that he’s going to be in Milwaukee and able to accept his nomination.”
The host pressed: “Okay, but we talked about this a week ago, you’ve got to plan for any eventuality. Have you started that process of planning or preparing for the fact that maybe Donald Trump is forced to deliver a speech from someplace like Rikers Island or maybe prerecord a speech?”
He added: “It’s something that you’ve got to plan for because no one has any idea what Justice Juan Merchan is going to do in Lower Manhattan on July 11th?”
Unwilling to comment further, Whatley said: “We will have every contingency covered, but I’m telling you this, we fully expect that he is going to be there in Milwaukee to accept his nomination, and we look forward to it. I think the construction on the arena right now is underway. The last time I was up there last week, it looks absolutely fantastic, and it’s going to be a fantastic opportunity for us to roll out his plan for the next four years.”
Remaining on point, Finnerty asked again: “Does the convention still happen if he’s not able to attend for whatever reason?”
The chair refused to say: “Well, it is going to happen, and we are fully expecting to have him there. And I think that, again, when you look at all of the stars in the Republican constellation right now, we feel like we are a true representation of the American dream, and that’s why we’re so excited to have everybody together in Milwaukee.”
Watch above on Newsmax.
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