[rush] `rush publish` seems to be completely ignoring the branch argument

[kgetz-arista]

Summary

I'm trying to run this command:

rush publish -a --target-branch trunk -p

It doesn't matter if I use -b or --target-branch; either way, Rush seems to be ignoring the argument entirely. In the output, I can see that it's creating a branch named publish-1775694549480, which it's trying to push to, but failing:

remote: Processing changes: refs: 3, done
To ssh://gerrit.corp.arista.io:29418/event-viewer
 ! [remote rejected]         HEAD -> publish-1775694549480 (prohibited by Gerrit: Unable to resolve object 'commit aa2ca412919a687e2c7e4c73066453c0b5af8c93 1775694553 ------p'. Check that the object exists on the server or get update permission to create new commit objects.)

Repro steps

Try to specify a branch while publishing.

Expected result: Rush uses the branch.

Actual result: Rush ignores the argument and creates its own branch anyway.

Standard questions

Please answer these questions to help us investigate your issue more quickly:

Question	Answer
@microsoft/rush globally installed version?	5.169.3
rushVersion from rush.json?	5.169.3
pnpmVersion, npmVersion, or yarnVersion from rush.json?	10.32.1
(if pnpm) useWorkspaces from pnpm-config.json?	yes
Operating system?	Windows 11
Would you consider contributing a PR?	No
Node.js version (node -v)?	24.12.0