After Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee with a victory in Tuesday night’s Indiana primary, Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus tried his best to rally the party behind Trump.
During a Wednesday morning interview on CNN’s “New Day,” co-host Alisyn Camerota asked Priebus, “Did you ever think this is where you would be this morning?”
“You know, I didn’t, but I don’t think that’s necessarily bad. You know what? I think something different and something new is probably good for our party,” he replied. “And look, I don’t think anyone predicted what happened. So look, we’re here. We’re going to get behind the presumptive nominee.”
Priebus has spoken with Trump over the phone, but would not reveal much about his conversation with the candidate on CNN. But the RNC chair indicated that Trump will have to align himself with the Republican party platform.
“As I’ve said before, the candidates join us. We don’t join the candidates. And so our party platform is clear. The things we believe in are clear. We don’t change what we believe in as a party. We have a nomination process, and someone is going to get chosen. I believe Donald Trump will ultimately get chosen, and he’s going to join the party,” Priebus said.
Camerota asked Priebus if it is time for Trump to apologize to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and his father for floating a conspiracy theory linking Rafael Cruz to Lee Harvey Oswald. In response, Priebus praised Trump for including kind words for Cruz in his Indiana victory speech.
“Look, I don’t know about all of the apologies, but I do think it’s time to come together, and I think you saw the beginning of that last night. I thought that Donald Trump was very gracious. I thought his tone was spot-on,” Priebus said. “I think that is the Donald Trump that people are going to see a lot more of, and I think he was right to compliment Ted Cruz. I think that he was right to call what he did brave and gracious.”
Watch part of the interview via CNN:
.@Reince says no one predicted Donald Trump, but “something different, something new is probably good for our party” https://t.co/0fbmnKELh0
— New Day (@NewDay) May 4, 2016
