McMullin: Republicans ‘putting party ahead of principle’

Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin said early Sunday that top Republican leaders are “putting party ahead of principle” in this election.

“The reality is that the vast majority of Republican leaders are putting party ahead of principle and putting power over the interests of their own country. And that’s the challenge that we have going forward,” McMullin told George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week.”

{mosads}”That’s the challenge that this country has. That’s the challenge that the Republican Party will have.”

Recent polls show McMullin is competitive in his home state of Utah, which he hopes could disrupt the Electoral College in the event of a tight race between Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump. Though Trump is currently leading in the RealClearPolitics Utah poll average, McMullin and Clinton are tied, each with 25.2 percent of the vote.

McMullin, who said Trump and Clinton are “both terrible,” said leaders in Congress are responsible for their nominations.

“It’s our leaders who wouldn’t stand up to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the primaries, because they were afraid that they were going to be criticized or that they would lose their seats in Congress, for example,” he said.