Katie Britt not endorsing Trump stirs rift with RNC, Breitbart ârabid dogs,â Steve Bannon, report states
U.S. Sen. Katie Britt being the only Republican in the Alabama Congressional delegation who has not yet endorsed former president Donald Trump in the 2024 election has “become a real headache” within factions of the GOP, according a report today from The Daily Beast.
The other seven members of Alabama’s Washington GOP delegation announced their support of Trump – hours before the former president delivered the keynote address at the Alabama Republican Party’s annual summer dinner earlier this month.
“There’s no legitimate excuse for Sen. Katie Britt to be the only federal elected official from Alabama not endorsing Donald Trump, especially when he went to bat for her in the (GOP Senate) primary (in 2022) and especially when Trump, the rule of law and our entire country are under assault,” Charlie Kirk, founder/CEO of Turning Point USA, posted on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Britt then explained to AL.com that as part of her work with the newly-formed Republican Party Advisory Council, put together by RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, she intended to remain neutral until the group completed its work.
“Senator Britt enjoys a warm relationship with President Trump and had an opportunity to speak with him by phone this week,” Britt’s spokesperson said to AL.com on Aug. 3.
The statement also noted Trump wished her a speedy recovery from sudden facial numbness caused by a post-viral infection that kept her from attending his Montgomery speech.
“The Senator greatly appreciated his well wishes and kind words. They discussed the disastrous results of the Biden presidency and the need to restore strength to the White House, so that hardworking American families are put first again.”
The Daily Beast report, however, states Breitbart noticed other members on the RNC council — Reps. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) and John James (R-MI) — have endorsed Trump.
“And with Breitbart pressing the matter, Britt’s explanation has seemed to lose credibility—so much so that the far-right news site has pressured the RNC into seemingly a new stance,” The Daily Beast article continued.
An RNC spokesman told The Daily Beast that all members are welcome to “continue their work regardless of whether they are backing a Republican presidential candidate.”
RNC spokesperson Keith Schipper told The Daily Beast that “when we launched the Republican Party Advisory Council to help us chart the best path forward to win in 2024, we asked members to remain neutral in the Republican presidential primary.”
”The anonymous source is flat out wrong. The Chairwoman asked all members of the advisory council to remain neutral when it began,” RNC Chief of Staff Mike Reed told The Daily Beast, following publication. “This supposed source has concocted a fantasy that never took place, and they clearly don’t know what they’re talking about.”
Britt’s spokesperson told AL.com it was a “condition of joining” the RNC council for members to stay neutral until “the council has finished its work.”
“Sen. Britt respects other members of the Council who have made their own decisions on how to proceed at this stage. She made a public commitment — one that she has reiterated to Alabamians as recently as last week — and she takes great personal pride in being someone who keeps her word.
“She will continue to do so and looks forward to formally announcing her endorsement in the presidential primary and endorsements in open Senate primaries later this year,” Britt’s spokesperson said.
The statement did not say which candidate Britt will endorse.
The article then goes on to question whether Britt “concocted” the RNC stance as an excuse to not endorse Trump:
“The Britt people send us out there to defend this lie, and nobody seems to realize that we’re dealing with rabid dogs at Breitbart,” a senior RNC source told The Daily Beast. “They don’t give a shit. They’re not just going to accept her off-the-record explanation, and they start demanding all kinds of statements about us preventing people from endorsing Trump and threatening to kick Trump supporters off this Council.”
Steve Bannon, the longtime Breitbart executive sentenced to four months behind bars for defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, has now come to Britt’s aid, the article states:
“Bannon supposedly called all over the place trying to get them to stand down, but it didn’t seem to work because the Britt people were still freaking out about Breitbart blowing them up,” this source said. “But, like, what bizarre world are we living in when Steve Bannon and the RNC are joined at the hip to defend a McConnell acolyte?”
Bannon told The Daily Beast that Britt’s endorsement should be “rolled out when it will make the biggest impact to defeat Joe Biden.”
Trump, the article said, is in touch with Britt –who is described in the piece as the “future” of the GOP — but is “somewhat indifferent” as a source explained, “this is a lot of heartburn to get to an endorsement.”
Trump endorsed Britt in her 2022 GOP Senate primary runoff against Mo Brooks after Trump withdrew his backing of Brooks months earlier, claiming Brooks became “woke” for telling attendees at a Trump rally in Cullman to move past the 2020 election.
That endorsement came less than two weeks before Britt defeated Brooks in the runoff.