Newsmax: Trump to Meet With 500 Evangelical Leaders in Hopes of Support

GOP presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump is planning to go before hundreds of the nation’s top evangelical and social conservative leaders to make his pitch for their support, Fox News reports.

Trump is meeting June 21 in New York City with as many as 500 Christian leaders — a get-together arranged with the help of Trump supporter Ben Carson, Family Research Council head Tony Perkins and Bill Dallas of United in Purpose.

“Our goal is to be able to have a conversation that could lead to a better understanding of what Donald Trump has to offer to the country,” Tony Perkins told Fox News.

Perkins concedes he’s “not there yet” behind Trump — and neither are other Christian leaders, including a small number who are urging congregants to stay home on Election Day.

“I want to be actively supportive of a candidate who can help turn this nation around,” Perkins explained. “With Trump — I’m not there yet. I hope to be there — but I’m not there right now.”

Perkins revealed that Christian leaders want to hear Trump’s plans for potential Supreme Court nominees and the vetting process, Trump’s policies on religious liberty and pro-life issues, and his possible vice presidential candidates.

“A vice presidential pick is going to be very crucial,” Perkins noted. “Mr. Trump doesn’t have a track record — so I am going to rely very heavily on who he is going to pick as a running mate.”

Among those involved in the meeting are Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Ralph Reed, Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America, Bob McEwen, Tim Wildmon of the American Family Association, Kelly Shackelford of First Liberty, American Values President Gary Bauer, Family Leader President Bob Vander Plaats, and megachurch pastors Jack Graham and Ed Young, the Christian Post reports.

“None of us have endorsed Mr. Trump, nor have we condemned Mr. Trump,” Floyd told Fox News.

Read more at Trump to Meet With 500 Evangelical Leaders in Hopes of Support. 

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