More than 100 Republicans, including former governors and lawmakers, are threatening to form a third party if the GOP doesn't split from Trump
- More than 100 Republicans are threatening to form their own party if the GOP doesn't renounce Trump.
- The group includes former governors, members of Congress, and a Bush-era Cabinet secretary.
- They plan to release a letter on Thursday.
More than 100 Republicans say they will leave their party and form a new one if it doesn't split from former President Donald Trump.
The group, which includes former governors and lawmakers, plans to release a letter outlining the threat on Thursday.
The preamble to the statement, published by The New York Times, says: "When in our democratic republic, forces of conspiracy, division, and despotism arise, it is the patriotic duty of citizens to act collectively in defense of liberty and justice."
Those due to sign include former officials, members of Congress, ambassadors, Cabinet secretaries, and party chairmen.
They include former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, and former Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, who served under President George W. Bush, The Times and Reuters reported.
Miles Taylor, the former Homeland Security chief of staff who anonymously wrote a 2018 Times op-ed about "resistance" in the Trump administration, is one of the group's organizers.
"If the GOP can't break free of the nauseating cult of personality around Donald Trump, then they'll not only get an intra-party civil war, they'll see a breakaway movement running against them in key races around the country," Taylor told Insider.
The Republican Party has been split over Trump.
On Wednesday, House Republicans voted to remove Rep. Liz Cheney from her powerful position as chair of the House Republican Conference after she pushed back against Trump and the Republican Party's false claims about the 2020 presidential election.