RNC Chair: ‘Ultimately The Delegates’ Not Voters Decide Who Nominee Will Be [VIDEO]

Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus says that the delegates ultimately decide who the nominee will be, claiming that voters “empower” the delegates.

Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, host Chuck Todd asked, “Who’s picking this nominee? The voters or the delegates,” to which Preibus replied, “you know, I think it’s a combination but it’s empowered by the voters.”

Priebus argued, “So the voters empower the delegates but ultimately the delegates — who in most cases are bound by the outcomes of caucuses and primaries and conventions — make the decisions at the convention.”

“Think about this,” Priebus said. “I think we loose sight of what the word convention means. It’s not a four day party. A convention in its legal sense is the members of the party coming together every four years to write the rules of the party to elect officers of our party and a nominee.”

Later, Todd had Priebus respond to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll that found 62 percent of Republicans say the candidate with the most votes should be the nominee, compared to 33 percent that believe the nominee should be chosen by the delegates. Todd predicted that Donald Trump will have the most primary votes “by a lot,” then asked Priebus what he would tell the voters if Trump is not ultimately the Republican nominee.

Priebus argued that if Trump “was winning the majority of votes, he’d likely have the majority of delegates but that’s not actually what’s happening. He’s winning a plurality of votes and he has a plurality of delegates and under the rules and under the concept of this country, a majority rules on everything.”

“If people were asked a question like that, it makes sense but it only tells you half the story,” he added.

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