Story highlights RNC members said regular voters don't care about Comey's firing

The controversy was "barely mentioned" at an RNC gathering in California

Coronado, California (CNN) More than 2,200 miles away, President Donald Trump was under siege Thursday over his White House's constantly-changing rationale for firing the FBI director who was investigating his campaign.

A few hundred feet away, protesters were marching on the beach, denouncing Trump and local Rep. Darrell Issa over GOP lawmakers' push to undercut Obamacare's protections for those with pre-existing conditions.

But inside the Hotel Del Coronado, where 168 Republican National Committee members and their guests -- including first daughter-in-law Lara Trump and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke -- gathered for their spring meeting Thursday, Trump's troubles were met with a shrug.

The first clips of Trump's interview with NBC's Lester Holt, in which he was grilled over his firing of James Comey, aired as RNC members were in a rules committee meeting Thursday.

Hours later, though, RNC members said they weren't sweating the Comey controversy.

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