Rebels in the Republican Party ponder new push to topple Donald Trump before it is too late

A rebel group within the Republican Party which tried but failed to disrupt and derail the coronation of Donald Trump at last month’s convention in Cleveland will reconvene in Las Vegas this week to discuss revising their effort, The Independent has exclusively learned.

Dane Waters, a co-founder of Delegates Unbound, which triggered several minutes of chaos on the convention floor on its first night three weeks ago by seeking a change in convention voting rules, said that his group has not given up on its mission to rid the party of Mr Trump.

“Everything is on the table,” Mr Waters said. Among the things he and his allies would be discussing in Las Vegas would be forcing the resignation of Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, which swung behind Mr Trump the instant his last rivals dropped out of the primary contests and his hold on the nomination seemed secure.

It will also debate how it can force a still more radical move - the abolition of the primary voting system that allowed Mr Trump to get to the top of the pile in the first place, dislodging all 15 of his main rivals, including Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz and John Kasich.

“The meeting is just several of us involved with the effort in Cleveland getting together to talk about possible next steps,” Mr Waters commented as he attempted to board a delayed flight to Las Vegas from the East coast.

“Trump is just one of the issues to be discussed with the other being how to reform the RNC so this never happens again - which includes pushing for Priebus to resign and trying to abolish the presidential primary system.”

It was as he was at the airport that he learned of the impending filing on Monday of papers for an independent presidential bid on behalf of a group called Better for America by a Evan Mcmullin, 40, a conservative activists whose career has included 11 years at the CIA.

Mr Waters was dismissive of the move, however. “I just saw where McMullin is entering the race as an independent,” he commented. “What an absolute waste of time and resources.”

In the meantime, he said he was also aware of attempts over the weekend by yet another group, called Free the Delegates, to force an emergency meeting of the full membership of the RNC with a view to persuading it to invoke an article that theoretically would allow them simply to remove Mr Trump as the party’s nominee and find someone to replace him.

That move by Free the Delegates, which operates separately from Delegates Unbound, was first reported on Monday by The Washington Post.

Again, Mr Waters evinced scepticism over whether their strategy could be viable. By a large margin, most Republicans are now expressing support for Mr Trump as their nominee and the RNC under Mr Priebus has strenuously pushed back against attempts to replace him.

"The mechanism they are using as a basis is plausible but it is a very long shot but I am still thinking through if it could work,” Mr Waters said.