--- title: Reince Priebus Warns of 'Consequences' for Donald Trump description: Donald Trump's reversal on a pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee could have consequences canonical: https://time.com/4280065/donald-trump-loyalty-pledge-reince-priebus/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-03T13:46:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:59.159Z article:section: Politics og:title: GOP Chairman Warns Of 'Consequences' for Trump Over Broken Loyalty Pledge og:description: Trump said he may not support the eventual Republican nominee og:url: https://time.com/4280065/donald-trump-loyalty-pledge-reince-priebus/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51a1781571842d83/69888d78196cf44b9003b03d/reince-priebus1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Friday, March 4, 2016, in National Harbor, Md. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: GOP Chairman Warns Of 'Consequences' for Trump Over Broken Loyalty Pledge twitter:description: Trump said he may not support the eventual Republican nominee twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51a1781571842d83/69888d78196cf44b9003b03d/reince-priebus1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # GOP Chairman Warns Of 'Consequences' for Trump Over Broken Loyalty Pledge > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=c01e5da7-59f6-40ce-8594-a018a845caf1&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch the CNN Town Hall in Milwaukee In Under 3 Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): Watch the CNN Town Hall in Milwaukee In Under 3 Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zTNXJqCJ.m3u8) (2:49)  _Published 2016-03-30_ by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Apr 3, 2016 1:46 PM UTC  Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md., on March 4, 2016. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md., on March 4, 2016. Carolyn Kaster—AP by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Apr 3, 2016 1:46 PM UTC Donald Trump’s [reversal on a pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee](http://time.com/4275964/trump-pledge-republican-nominee/) could have consequences, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said Sunday. In appearances on all five Sunday news shows, Priebus sought to reassure Republicans that the party is preparing for the likelihood of a contested convention, while rebutting criticism of the arcane delegate selection rules leveled by the front-runner. Trump has called the system “unfair” and has said he should be awarded the nomination even if he falls short of the 1,237 delegates—a majority—required to win the nomination at the party’s convention in Cleveland in July. Responding to Trump’s decision to abandon his loyalty pledge on ABC’s _This Week_, Priebus said the decision could deepen Trump’s delegate troubles. “Those kinds of comments I think have consequences,” Priebus said. ” And so when you make those kinds of comments, and you want people to fall in line for you, it makes it more difficult.” “If you were running for president of the Kiwanis Club or the Boy Scouts and you said you don’t know if you like the Kiwanis or the Boy Scouts, I think that makes your challenge even greater to ultimately win those kinds of posts,” he added. “It’s not different for the Republican Party.” “We expect that when candidates make commitments to the principles and values of our party that they would keep it,” Priebus continued, saying he hopes that Trump was simply “posturing” for the media. Priebus’ comments come days after a surprise meeting with Trump at the party’s Washington headquarters in which the chairman was critical of Trump’s campaign team for failing to understand the intricacies of the party’s delegate rules. The RNC has also stepped up its efforts to educate party leaders and rank-and-file voters about long-overlooked process issues that will ultimately decide who wins the nomination. Priebus also suggested that Trump’s comments could imperil his access to the party’s databases. While about 95% of delegates are bound on the first ballot, most are unbound by the second, and nearly all are freed to vote for any candidate on a potential third vote. Trump’s rivals have been working aggressively to [infiltrate the ranks](http://time.com/4270354/inside-the-quiet-crusade-to-turn-gop-delegates-against-trump/) of pledged Trump delegates with individuals who will abandon him on subsequent votes—most recently in Tennessee where the delegate slate includes pledged Trump delegates would are not true Trump backers. Trump’s decision to abandon the loyal pledge could open his grip on [South Carolina’s 50 delegates to a challenge](http://time.com/4278295/donald-trump-loyalty-pledge-south-carolina-delegates/), as that state had a separate loyalty pledge for candidates to gain access to the primary ballot. ## Transcript [ APPLAUSE ] Thank you. Let me ask you about Lovenduski. Initially, your campaign said this never happened, there was no video of it. You came out and said you thought this person was perhaps making it up. This reporter, Lewandowski himself tweeted, saying, I never met this reporter, I never touched this person. Now the video tape shows he clearly did touch this person. Whether or not you think it was battery or not- Excuse me, touch, I don't know what touch means. Well, he said I never touched this person. And then she says, look at my arm. Did he mislead you as well? Not at all. No, not at all. Look, I didn't know we had all these security cameras all over. By the time I found out I said, well, this is really wonderful. This exonerates him totally. She shouldn't have been touching me, okay? And you saw that she did that. Yeah, she did. She was grabbing me, twice. I looked at her, in fact, one of the great pictures is me going like this, like get away from me. Who is this person? More than six months ago you pledged to support the Republican nominee, whoever that may be. A lot has changed since then. It sounded, when I was pressing Senator Cruz on it, sounded like he was saying he'd have a hard time supporting somebody- Honestly he doesn't have to support me. I'm not asking for his support. [ CROSSTALK ] I want the people's support. Do you continue to pledge- [ APPLAUSE ] Whoever the Republican nominee is. No, I don't. You don't? We'll see who it is. So the pledge you took is null and void. The idea of supporting whoever the Republican nominee is You say you will no longer guarantee that you will support the Republican nominee. I have been treated very unfairly. After saying that you will spill the beans about Heidi Cruz, you retweeted an unflattering picture of her next to a picture of your wife. I thought it was a nice picture of Heidi, I thought it was fine. Come on. I thought it was fine, she's a pretty woman. You're running for President of the United States. Excuse me, I didn't start it. I didn't start it. Sir, with all due respect, that's the argument of a five year old. I didn't start it. No it's not, it's the argument of- The argument of a five year old- Excuse me- Is that he started it. You would say that. We are competing to win. We are not competing to stop Trump. We're competing to win the nomination. I just have to follow up. If Donald Trump is the GOP nominee, would you support him? Let me tell you my solution to that. [ LAUGH ] Donald is not gonna be the GOP nominee, we're going to beat him. [ APPLAUSE ] I'm not in the habit of supporting someone who attacks my wife and attacks my family. I gotta see what happens, if the nominee is somebody that I think is really hurting the country and dividing the country, I can't stand behind them. You develop respect for people that are in the arena. And, but you know, I've been disturbed by some of the things that I've seen and I have to think about what my word and endorsement would mean in a Presidential campaign. So I want to see how this thing finishes out, and you know what? I wanna tell ya, I think the little engine that can keeps going. I sure hope they'll endorse me for President when I'm the nominee coming out of the convention in Cleveland. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4280065/donald-trump-loyalty-pledge-reince-priebus/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4280065/donald-trump-loyalty-pledge-reince-priebus/"},"headline":"GOP Chairman Warns Of 'Consequences' for Trump Over Broken Loyalty Pledge","datePublished":"2016-04-03T13:46:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:55:59.159Z","description":"Trump said he may not support the eventual Republican nominee","url":"https://time.com/4280065/donald-trump-loyalty-pledge-reince-priebus/","keywords":["Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51a1781571842d83/69888d78196cf44b9003b03d/reince-priebus1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51a1781571842d83/69888d78196cf44b9003b03d/reince-priebus1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Friday, March 4, 2016, in National Harbor, Md. 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