|
 Trump, who is also struggling to contain the fallout from his
Wednesday comment that women who have abortions should be punished
if the procedure is outlawed, said afterward he had a "nice meeting"
to talk about party unity with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus.
"Looking forward to bringing the party together," Trump said on
Twitter. "And it will happen!"
Priebus said the meeting was scheduled days ago and included a
discussion about the process heading into the party's July
convention in Cleveland. Trump leads the Republican race, but is at
risk of falling short of the 1,237 delegates needed to become the
party's nominee in the Nov. 8 election, raising the prospect of a
contested convention.
"We did talk about unity and working together and making sure when
we go to Cleveland, and come out of Cleveland, that we're working in
the same direction," Priebus told the Fox News Channel.
Trump's relationship with the RNC has been contentious at times, and
he recently complained the party was not treating him fairly as it
prepared for a possible contested convention.
 On Tuesday, Trump backed away from the loyalty pledge he signed in
September promising to support the party's eventual nominee and not
to run an independent campaign for the White House.
The RNC pledge has unraveled as Trump's remaining rivals, U.S.
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Governor John Kasich, also
indicated they were unlikely to observe the pledge if Trump was the
nominee.
Priebus refused to say if the discarded loyalty pledge was discussed
at the meeting with Trump, which lasted just under an hour.
The billionaire businessman was in Washington for a morning
gathering of his newly established foreign policy team. A source who
attended said the group discussed threats from Islamic State
militants, nuclear proliferation, homeland security assessments and
European security levels.
Trump's campaign also announced it was setting up a Washington
office to run its convention and delegate operations and work with
the RNC and Congress.
"SIMPLE MISSPEAK"
The campaign has been busy trying to dig out from under an avalanche
of criticism over Trump's abortion comment, even though he quickly
reversed his stance.
Trump pulled back from his initial comments within an hour, first in
a statement saying that U.S. states should handle abortion issues
and later saying doctors who perform abortions are the ones who
should be held responsible.
"You have a presidential candidate that clarified the record not
once but twice," Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson told CNN, calling
the initial comments a "simple misspeak." She said Trump was
"pro-life with exceptions" and said his statements after the
comments in an MSNBC interview were an accurate depiction of his
views.
 "We shouldn't make this a 24-hour headline when we have things like
terrorism going on in the world."
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Trump's latest controversy threatened to further erode his standing
with women voters, many of whom have been offended by his use of
vulgarities and insulting language to describe women during the
campaign.
The abortion flap erupted as Trump campaigned in Wisconsin ahead of
the state's primary on Tuesday. The primary will be particularly
important because all 42 delegates will be awarded to the winner of
the popular vote, rather than distributed proportionate to the vote.
Two opinion polls released in the last two days showed Cruz moving
ahead of Trump by 10 percentage points in Wisconsin.
Trump's meetings with his new foreign policy advisers follow several
controversial statements on national security issues, prompting
critics to question his suitability to be commander in chief.
Trump has declared NATO obsolete, said Saudi Arabia is too dependent
on the United States and said Japan and South Korea may need to
develop their own nuclear programs because the U.S. security
umbrella is too costly to maintain.
In the same MSNBC town hall where he made the abortion comments,
Trump refused to rule out the potential use of nuclear weapons in
Europe or the Middle East to combat Islamic State militants. "I
would never take any of my cards off the table," he said.
Trump told the Fox News Channel that the nuclear issue was discussed
at his foreign policy meeting "and everybody agrees with me. You
don't take it off the table."
Many establishment Republicans have labored to block Trump from
getting the nomination at the July convention, worried that he will
lead the party to an overwhelming defeat in November.
Trump's Republican rivals said his abortion comments were just
another example that raises questions about his suitability for the
White House.
"It just shows that he's really not prepared to be president of the
United States," Kasich told reporters at a New York news conference,
adding that the president should not be constantly rowing back on a
series of "wild-eyed suggestions."
"I have to tell you that as commander in chief and leader of the
free world, you don't get do-overs. You need to be able to get it
right the first time," he said.
(Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Susan Heavey, Megan Cassella,
Mark Hosenball, Julia Harte; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by
Jonathan Oatis and Leslie Adler)
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