President Donald Trump's promise at the
2016 Republican National Convention to protect the LGBT community was
part of a plan to win over uncommitted delegates, Sean Spicer says in
a new book out Tuesday.
In The Briefing: Politics, The Press
and The President, Spicer, the president's former press
secretary, claims that campaign chairman Paul Manafort promised a GOP
delegate that Trump would embrace the LGBT community in exchange for
him removing his signature from a petition against Trump being the
Republican presidential nominee.
“[Paul] Manafort and his lieutenants
went one by one down the list of people who had signed the petition
[against Trump being the nominee] and persuaded them to remove their
signatures,” Spicer wrote.
Robert Sinners, a delegate from
Washington, D.C., said that he wanted the nominee to support LGBT
rights.
“Jason [Miller] assured Sinners that
Trump would be the most 'inclusive' candidate the Republican Party
ever had,” Spicer said. “Jason told Sinners Donald Trump's
acceptance speech would acknowledge the LGBT community, which no
other Republican acceptance speech had done. And it did.”
Trump told the crowd: “I will do
everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens.”
The Trump administration has issued
multiple anti-LGBT policies.