Donald Trump flip flops on pledge to support any GOP nominee
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Tuesday said he is no longer committed to supporting the GOP nominee, regardless of who it is.
"Do you continue to pledge whoever the Republican nominee is?" CNN moderator Anderson Cooper asked Trump during a televised town hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Trump replied, "No. I don't anymore."
Last year, Trump signed a pledge to the Republican National Committee (RNC) that he would not run as a third-party candidate, should he lose the GOP nomination.
"I have been treated very unfairly," Trump said, "I think by, basically, the RNC, the Republican party, the establishment."
He pointed to Mitt Romney's active efforts to campaign against him as an example of the unfair treatment against him.
In separate town hall events, Trump's GOP rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich both refused to pledge their support to any GOP nominee, though they didn't go as far as Trump did.
Asked whether he could support Trump, Cruz answered, "Donald is not going to be the GOP nominee. We're going to beat him."
He did, however acknowledge, "I'm not in the habit of supporting someone who attacks my wife and attacks my family. I think that is going beyond the line."
Kasich similarly refused to say explicitly whether or not he could support Trump as the nominee. If a candidate is "really hurting the country, I can't stand behind them," Kasich said.
Cruz insisted that he can win the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the GOP nomination. Kasich, however, is depending on a contested convention to win the nomination. The chances for a contested convention could increase next week, if Trump doesn't win the Wisconsin primary on April 5.