Kochs: We Won't Try to Stop Trump

They fear attacks wouldn't succeed: sources
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 3, 2016 11:25 AM CST
Kochs: We Won't Try to Stop Trump
Donald Trump speaks during a campaign stop in Columbus, Ohio.   (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

More good news for Donald Trump: The Koch brothers won't be spending their billions in an attempt to block him from the Republican nomination. To the thrill of the Republican establishment, rumors had been swirling that the billionaire industrialists would intervene to knock Trump down a peg in a "Trump Intervention" since they hosted 500 wealthy political donors at a California resort in January. But "we have no plans to get involved in the primary," a rep for the brothers' Freedom Partners group now tells Reuters.

That isn't to say Charles and David Koch support Trump. They object to his protectionist approach to trade and views on immigration. But sources say they fear attempts to target the Republican frontrunner wouldn't succeed, since no other attacks truly have. The millions spent on the 2012 Republican presidential bids of Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney are also still fresh in their minds, sources say. It isn't clear what the brothers have planned for the general election. (Trump just revealed his health care plan; Romney, meanwhile, isn't sitting quietly as Trump heads toward the nomination.)

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