Donald Trump gloats about death of Never Trump movement: 'They were crushed'

Donald Trump gloated on Twitter Friday morning about the "Never Trump" movement being defeated in its last-ditch effort to derail his nomination at next week's nominating convention.

Trump wrote on the social-media platform that the movement was "never more" and had been "crushed":

The Rules Committee voted Thursday night by an overwhelming margin to reject a proposal that would have unbound GOP delegates from state primary results and allowed them to instead "cast a vote of conscience."

The death of the so-called "free the delegates" proposal was all but a fatal blow to the Never Trump movement, which has sought to use every possible option to strip Trump of the Republican nomination.

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Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump addresses the audience at a campaign event.

The movement had gained some steam in mid-June when the Manhattan billionaire launched a series of attacks on a US federal judge's Mexican heritage.

But, even in June, RNC committeeman Morton Blackwell, a longtime member of the Rules Committee, told Business Insider that the Never Trumpers who thought they could pass such an amendment were living in a "fantasy."

"I'll put it this way," he said at the time. "Rounded off to the nearest whole digit, it's a zero chance. Maybe 0.00001%. It's not going to happen."

As it turns out, Blackwell was right.