The Republican National Committee’s chairperson has said that all GOP primary candidates should sign a pledge promising to support the eventual party nominee if they wish to participate in the presidential debates.

Ronna McDaniel, the RNC’s leader since 2017, told CNN in an interview Sunday that even though the debate criteria have not yet been released, the loyalty pledge should nevertheless be a “no-brainer” for the party’s presidential hopefuls.

“If you’re going to be on the Republican National Committee debate stage asking voters to support you, you should say, ‘I’m going to support the voters and who they choose as the nominee’,” McDaniel told CNN host Dana Bash.

“Anyone getting on the Republican national committee debate stage should be able to say, ‘I will support the will of the voters and the eventual nominee of our party,’” she added.

Bash went on to play a recent Donald Trump interview clip in which the former president indicated to conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that he was unsure whether he would support the eventual GOP nominee if it wasn’t him.

“It would have to depend on who the nominee was,” said Trump, who announced himself as a 2024 candidate in the fall.

Responding to that clip, McDaniel said, “I think they’re all going to sign” the loyalty pledge.

She added: “I really do. I think President Trump would like to be on the debate stage.

“We can’t be attacking each other so much that we lose sight of: we have to beat the Democrats. We have to beat Joe Biden in 2024. And we may have divisive primaries and differences of opinions, but in the end we have to settle those to win the big picture, which is governing our country and doing right by the American people,” she said.

Asa Hutchinson, the former Arkansas governor, who is considering running for the Republican nomination for president, has criticized the loyalty pledge.

Hutchinson has said Trump shouldn’t be allowed to run for president because his supporters attacked the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 after he urged them to fight like hell.

“For leaders such as myself who believe Donald Trump is not the right direction for the country … that would certainly make it a problem for me to give an across-the-board inclusion pledge,” Hutchinson told the Washington Post earlier this month.

McDaniel addressed Hutchinson’s criticism by saying: “I think you support the voters.” McDaniel said she is the niece of former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, was appointed to the RNC by Trump and would support either if they clinched the 2024 nomination, even if the two men didn’t support each other.

Other Republicans who have entered the presidential race include former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador Nikki Haley as well as biotech millionaire entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Prominent Republicans who could eventually launch presidential runs include former vice-president Mike Pence, ex-secretary of state Mike Pompeo, and Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

The RNC has scheduled its first presidential primary debate for August.