Trump campaign memo signals plans to scale back GOP national platform

Donald Trump’s top advisers plan to revise and shorten the Republican Party agenda so that it is “in line” with the former president’s “vision for America’s future,” according to a memo sent to the party program committee and obtained by ABC News.

The memo comes as some more socially conservative RNC members — as well as some anti-abortion groups — have expressed concern that this cycle’s platform could adopt Trump’s stance on reproductive rights, which would lift the call for a federal ban on abortion at 20 weeks that is part of the platform’s current language.

Trump has made clear his opposition to a federal ban and his preference for the issue to be left to the states.

The memo does not specifically mention abortion or reproductive rights, but emphasizes that the new platform will reflect Trump’s policy positions.

“For decades, Republicans have published lengthy agendas that are scrutinized and intentionally distorted by our political opponents. The mainstream media uses its tyranny to perpetuate lies and misrepresentations, and voters often believe we stand for something different of what we actually stand for doing,” the memo sent by Trump campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said.

The 2016 RNC platform, which was reapproved in 2020 — both times with Trump at the helm — is more than 60 pages long.

“Issuing an unnecessarily wordy treaty will further fuel our opponent’s fire of misinformation and false statements to voters. It is with this recognition that we will present a streamlined platform consistent with President Trump’s principled and popular vision for America’s future,” the memo said.

The note was sent to members of the Platform Committee on Thursday.

The committee begins meeting in Milwaukee on the evening of July 7 and will meet again on July 8-9, before the RNC convention.

According to several people involved in the process, draft language for a new platform has not yet been distributed to most Platform Committee members or general RNC membership, although a number of conversations and Lobbying on these issues with Trump allies is underway among leaders of key advocacy groups and with some individuals.

“Discussions about changing the Republican Party’s pro-life agenda are deeply concerning to pro-life Americans across the country. There has only been one party that stands up for life, and if the Republicans withdraw from this fight, there will be no party “one to fight this battle,” said Tim Chapman, the new president of former Vice President Mike Pence’s nonprofit political advocacy group. .

“We hope the Republican platform will continue to unequivocally call for national protections for the unborn, rooted in the 14th Amendment. To water down the Republican platform’s position on life would be to abandon its defense of the human dignity of all,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said in a statement to ABC News.

-Brittany Shepherd of ABC News contributed to this report.