120 anti-Trump Republicans are in talks to form a center-right 3rd party that would run on 'principled conservatism,' report says
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More than 120 Republicans on a Zoom call discussed forming a third party, Reuters reported.
The anti-Trump group said the party would focus on "principled conservatism," Reuters said.
The group includes former elected officials and people who worked for Trump and other Republicans.
More than 120 Republicans met over Zoom last week to discuss forming a center-right third party, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
The party would focus on "principled conservatism" and other ideals that the group thinks President Donald Trump dismissed, the report said.
"Large portions of the Republican Party are radicalizing and threatening American democracy," Evan McMullin, the former chief policy director for the House Republican Conference, told Reuters. McMullin, who also ran for president as an independent in 2016, said he cohosted the call.
Read more: Republicans are reluctant to say who's the new GOP boss with Trump gone from the White House
"The party needs to recommit to truth, reason and founding ideals or there clearly needs to be something new," McMullin said.
The call included former elected officials and people who served in the administrations of Trump, George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan, sources told Reuters.
The Republican Party is reckoning with a division between Trump loyalists and traditional Republicans.
Reports have said Trump has also considered starting a third party, possibly named the Patriot Party, as a rebuke of the Republican lawmakers who he feels have not been sufficiently loyal to him.
Tensions were heightened after the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, when Trump urged his supporters to march to the Capitol while Congress was certifying the result of the election.
In total, 147 Republicans objected to certifying the results; some did so after Congress reconvened following the attack.
Trump is facing an impeachment trial - his second - over his role in inciting the mob. Ten Republican members of the House voted to impeach Trump, making it the most bipartisan impeachment in history.
People who were on the call told Reuters that they were bothered that so many congressional Republicans had voted against certifying the election result even after the mob attacked the building.
When asked about the discussions about an anti-Trump party, Jason Miller, a Trump spokesman, told Reuters, "These losers left the Republican Party when they voted for Joe Biden."
Some names being considered for the new party are the Integrity Party and the Center Right Party, according to Reuters.
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