Report: Trump delays Utah fundraiser amid GOP in-fighting
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Former President Trump on Aug. 17 in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Infighting over Utah's Republican primary results contributed to former President Trump's decision to call off a fundraiser next week in the deep-red state, according to a new report.
Driving the news: Trump's team told donors Thursday that next week's planned Park City visit was "postponed" due to "changes in the President's schedule," the Deseret News reported.
Friction point: The Deseret News reported that a source close to the decision said top Trump campaign officials were concerned about the ongoing intra-party dispute over rightwing state Rep. Phil Lyman's write-in campaign against incumbent Gov. Spencer Cox, who defeated Lyman in June's primary.
Catch up quick: Lyman, a longtime Trump ally who has previously spread baseless claims of election fraud, mounted multiple challenges to the primary results after his loss.
- He unsuccessfully sought to examine petition signatures Cox gathered to enter the primary; Lyman defeated Cox at the party's April convention to nominate primary candidates.
- He then sued to annul the primary result and stop the state from printing November's ballots — an effort the state Supreme Court threw out last week.
The latest: Last week, the southern Utah Republican partnered with the gubernatorial campaign of state Rep. Brian King (D-Salt Lake City) in a joint ad attacking Cox.
The intrigue: Lyman was the highest-profile MAGA candidate in the race — until Cox endorsed Trump in an abrupt about-face following the assassination attempt on the former president last month.
- That means Trump is delaying a visit to a state whose Republicans are now largely unified behind him.
Yes, but: Trump is shifting his campaign's focus to battleground states, like Arizona and Nevada, the Deseret News reported.
Flashback: Trump pardoned Lyman in 2020 after he was convicted of illegally leading a 2014 ATV protest into a protected canyon containing sensitive Indigenous sites.
- Trump called him"a man of integrity and character."
Meanwhile, another legal fight broke out over the Republican primary for Utah's 2nd Congressional District, which incumbent Rep. Celeste Maloy won by less than 200 votes in a recount.
- Although Maloy had Trump's endorsement, she was nearly defeated from the right by former Green Beret Colby Jenkins, who was endorsed by U.S. Sen. Mike Lee.
- Courts rejected Jenkins' argument that mail-in ballots with late postmarks should still be counted.