REPORT: During Initial Pussygate Furor, GOP Donors Were Told It Would Take $800M For Trump To Drop Out

The Atlantic has published a lengthy and quite interesting profile of Mike Pence’s road to the Trump administration.

When to the story gets to the furor surrounding Trump’s infamous Access Hollywood “pussygate” tape, author McKay Coppins reveals this:



Already, Reince Priebus’s office was being flooded with panicked calls from GOP officials and donors urging the RNC chairman to get rid of Trump by whatever means necessary. One Republican senator called on the party to engage emergency protocols to nominate a new candidate. RNC lawyers huddled to explore an obscure legal mechanism by which they might force Trump off the ticket.

Meanwhile, a small group of billionaires was trying to put together money for a “buyout”—even going so far as to ask a Trump associate how much money the candidate would require to walk away from the race. According to someone with knowledge of the talks, they were given an answer of $800 million. (It’s unclear whether Trump was aware of this discussion or whether the offer was actually made.) Republican donors and party leaders began buzzing about making Pence the nominee and drafting Condoleezza Rice as his running mate.