UPDATE xa: Since the post below was published, Dr. Carson's campaign sent out a statement underlining what was published in The Hill's account. See Carson's campaign statement in full added below.
WASHINGTON – Ben Carson is threatening to leave the GOP following a report that senior Republican officials met to discuss the party’s strategy in the event of a brokered convention, The Hill writes Friday morning.
“If the leaders of the Republican Party want to destroy the party, they should continue to hold meetings like the one described in the Washington Post this morning,” Carson said in a statement released by his campaign.
“If this was the beginning of a plant to subvert the will of the voters and replace it with the will of the political elite, I assure you Donald Trump will not be the only one leaving the party,” he continued.
Five unnamed sources told the Post that Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Reince Priebus and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) attended a dinner on Monday with around 20 senior party officials to discuss the party’s convention strategy.
The sources said several longtime party members argued the establishment must lay the groundwork for a floor fight in the event that Donald Trump sweeps through the primaries.
But Priebus and McConnell reportedly remained silent throughout the deliberations, taking care not to signal support for an anti-Trump effort.
The rest on The Hill. And the original story in The Washington Post.
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UPDATE x1: Dr. Carson's campaign released the follow at 10:35 AM CST:
“If the leaders of the Republican Party want to destroy the party, they should continue to hold meetings like the one described in the Washington Post this morning.
“If this was the beginning of a plan to subvert the will of the voters and replace it with the will of the political elite, I assure you Donald Trump will not be the only one leaving the party.
“I pray that the report in the Post this morning was incorrect. If it is correct, every voter who is standing for change must know they are being betrayed. I won’t stand for it.
“This process is the one played out by our party. If the powerful try to manipulate it, the Republican National Convention in Cleveland next summer may be the last convention. I am prepared to lose fair and square, as I am sure is Donald. But I will not sit by and watch a theft. I intend on being the nominee. If I am not, the winner will have my support. If the winner isn’t our nominee then we have a massive problem. My campaign is about ‘We the People’ not ‘They the Powerful.’”
