|
 Senior Trump aide Paul Manafort dismissed rival Republican
candidate Ted Cruz's accusation that the real estate mogul had lied
about his policies on immigration to "fool gullible voters."
The tussle over Trump's style and substance preceded Tuesday's
Republican and Democratic nominating contests in Pennsylvania and
four other Northeastern U.S. states: the next chapter in 2016's
drawn-out selection of the candidates for November's presidential
election.
Cruz seized on Manafort's comments at a closed-door meeting of top
Republican officials in Florida on Thursday that Trump, 69, would
temper the image he has projected so far, saying the "part that he's
been playing is now evolving."
"I never said Trump wasn't going to build a wall. I never said Trump
was going to change any of his positions," Manafort said on "Fox
News Sunday."
The adviser said Cruz, a 45-year-old U.S. senator from Texas who is
Trump's closest rival, was trying to distract voters from his own
difficult path to the nomination. Ohio Governor John Kasich, 63, is
also vying to be the Republican candidate.
 But, despite Manafort's promise of a more restrained tone, Trump has
continued to employ insulting nicknames at rallies, on Saturday
referring to Cruz as "Lyin' Ted."
The billionaire New Yorker has alarmed some senior party figures
with unflattering descriptions of Mexicans, a pledge to immediately
deport millions of illegal immigrants and a proposed temporary ban
on Muslims entering the country, among other things.
The rhetoric has drawn protesters to Trump rallies, sometimes
culminating in scuffles. On Sunday, the Connecticut State Police
arrested a 20-year-old man, saying he had posted a threat on Twitter
to bomb an upcoming Trump rally.
On Tuesday - one week after Trump's crushing win in New York's
primary election - Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Connecticut and
Rhode Island will hold their primaries.
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton's campaign says the former
secretary of state now has an essentially insurmountable lead over
rival Bernie Sanders. The 74-year-old U.S. senator from Vermont has
no plans to drop out of the race, according to his staff, who are
counting on defying pollsters with some surprise wins on Tuesday.
Trump is working to accrue the 1,237 delegates to the July 18-21
Republican National Convention needed to win the nomination
outright. That would avert a contested convention, in which Cruz,
Kasich or a dark-horse establishment figure could win the nomination
on a second or subsequent ballot.
Manafort predicted Trump would win the nomination on the first
ballot at the Cleveland convention.
Trump already has at least 844 delegates committed to him, according
to the Associated Press. Cruz has 543 and Kasich has 148.
In the five Northeastern states, 118 delegates will be at stake.
Pennsylvania will also choose 54 delegates not bound to any
candidate.
[to top of second column] |
Trump has won more states overall than Cruz has, but the Texan has
tried to keep Trump from winning the needed delegates by using
selection rules that vary by state. In Colorado, for example,
delegates were picked without a popular vote.
"He's trying to say the process doesn't matter. He's trying to say
voting doesn't matter," Manafort said of Cruz on Sunday. "He's
trying to say all that matters is to destroy the party and see who
can pick up the pieces on a second, third or fourth ballot.
"We're not going to let that happen," Manafort said.
State nominating contests continue through June.
KOCH COMMENTS
Also on Sunday, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince
Priebus played down conservative billionaire Charles Koch's comment
that "it's possible" Clinton, 68, would make a better president than
the Republicans in the race.
"Charles, in the past, has gone out of his way to make the case for
him being a little bit less partisan than people would expect,"
Priebus said on ABC.
"It's going to come down to four to eight more years of Barack Obama
and Hillary Clinton or a different direction," Priebus said. "And I
think that's going to be a very powerful case that we're going to be
able to make as a party."
Democrats, including Clinton, have criticized Koch and his brother,
David Koch, for using their wealth and a huge funding network they
helped organize to support politicians, usually Republican ones, who
reflect their opposition to government regulation of industry.
The Clinton campaign was not pleased with Koch's faint praise.
A response to Koch's comments posted on Clinton's Twitter account
said, "Not interested in endorsements from people who deny climate
science and try to make it harder for people to vote."
(Reporting by Emily Stephenson; Additional reporting by Jonathan
Allen; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
