Republican
National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus says a third-party presidential
campaign against Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton would be a "suicide
mission."
"They
can try to hijack another party and get on the ballot, but, look, it's a
suicide mission for our country because what it means is that you're throwing
down not just eight years of the White House but potentially 100 years on the
Supreme Court and wrecking this country for many generations," Priebus
said on "Fox News Sunday," anticipating that a conservative
third-party candidate would split the Republican vote and ensure a Democrat
wins the White House.
"So
I think that's the legacy these folks will leave behind. I think it's very
dangerous, and there's other ways to get assurances on the things that they're
worried about," he said.
The top
Republican's comments come as a group of anti-Trump conservatives seek an
alternative to the two likely nominees.
Mitt
Romney made an unsuccessful effort to recruit Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse as a
third-party candidate, a source with knowledge of the efforts confirmed to CNN
Sunday.
Sasse,
the freshman Republican, has emerged as one of Trump's foremost critics from
the right. Romney and Sasse have talked, the source said, and Romney encouraged
Sasse to seriously consider a run.
The
conversation was first reported by The Washington Post.
But Sasse
is refusing to enter the race.
"We
will decline to comment on the senator's conversations," Sasse spokesman
James Wegmann said. "Sen. Sasse has been clear about this when asked
before: He has three little kids and the only callings he wants -- raising them
and serving Nebraskans. The answer is no."
A Romney
spokeswoman declined to comment.
The
Nebraska senator's rejection comes as anti-Trump Republicans struggle to find a
candidate willing to wage a third-party bid.
Several
conservative leaders of anti-Trump efforts, including The Weekly Standard
editor Bill Kristol, are polling and reaching out to donors who oppose the
presumptive Republican nominee.
"I
think there will be an independent candidate," Kristol told CNN's Don
Lemon on Thursday. "I think a Republican of integrity and honor who people
like me will feel comfortable voting for."
The big
problem is that they need a candidate, and haven't found one yet.
For
potential candidates like Sasse, appeasing anti-Trump conservatives in
Washington comes with risk back home.
At the
Nebraska GOP convention, Sasse was rebuked through a resolution that was
overwhelmingly approved by Republicans there who argued that his position would
only help Hillary Clinton win the White House. Shielding Trump from criticism,
the convention also rejected a resolution that would have condemned derogatory
remarks toward women and minorities, The Lincoln Journal Star reports.
Trump's
opponents have also looked outside the political world.
Mark
Cuban, the tech mogul billionaire who owns the NBA's Dallas Mavericks,
confirmed a Washington Post report that he'd heard from Trump opponents
attempting to recruit a candidate. Cuban declined to name the people who were
involved.
"My conversations with them were
minimal," he said. "They reached out to my right-hand man who is my
D.C. guy."
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