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| Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump acknowledges the crowd after giving an energy speech at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference, Thursday, May 26, 2016, in Bismarck, N.D. |
BISMARCK,
N.D. (AP) -- Triumphantly armed with a majority of his party's
delegates, Republican Donald Trump unleashed a broadside attack Thursday
on Hillary Clinton's prescriptions for energy, guns, the economy and
international affairs, shifting abruptly toward the general election
with his likely Democratic opponent locked in a divisive primary
contest.
The New York billionaire shrugged off
signs of discord within his own campaign hours after sewing up the
number of delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination, a feat that
completed an unlikely rise that has upended the political landscape and
set the stage for a bitter fall campaign.
"Here
I am watching Hillary fight, and she can't close the deal," Trump
crowed during an appearance in North Dakota. "We've had tremendous
support from almost everybody."
Trump's good
news was tempered by ongoing internal problems. Those include the sudden
departure of his political director and continuing resistance by many
Republican leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and New Mexico
Gov. Susana Martinez, to declaring their support for his outsider
candidacy.
At the same time, Clinton faced
fresh questions about her use of a private email server while secretary
of state, even as she fought to pivot toward Trump, who she warned would
take the country "backward on every issue and value we care about."
The
State Department's inspector general released a report a day earlier
concluding that Clinton did not seek legal approval for her private
email server, guaranteeing the issue will continue nagging her campaign
for a second summer. She insisted Thursday that she had done nothing
wrong.
"It was allowed. And the rules have
been clarified since I left about the practice. Having said that, I have
said many times, it was a mistake. And, if I could go back, I would do
it differently," Clinton said, according to an interview transcript
provided by ABC News.
Campaigning before union
workers in Las Vegas, she decried Trump's anti-union comments and his
proposal to deport millions of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally.
She said he is an "unqualified loose cannon" who should never be
president.
Complicating her election
challenge, Clinton's Democratic rival Bernie Sanders embraced the
possibility of a one-on-one debate with Trump. The Republican said he'd
"love to debate Bernie" as he faced reporters Thursday.
"The problem with debating Bernie," Trump noted, "he's going to lose."
Just
75 delegates short of her own delegate majority, Clinton remains on a
path to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, according to an
Associated Press count. But Trump got there first.
The
New York businessman sealed the majority by claiming a small number of
the party's unbound delegates who told the AP they would support him at
the national convention in July. Among them was Oklahoma GOP chairwoman
Pam Pollard.
"I think he has touched a part of
our electorate that doesn't like where our country is," Pollard said.
"I have no problem supporting Mr. Trump."
It
takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination. Trump has
reached 1,239 and will easily pad his total in primary elections on June
7.
Many on the right have been slow to warm
to Trump, wary of his conservative bona fides. Others worry about his
crass personality and the lewd comments he's made about women.
But
millions of grass-roots activists, many of them outsiders to the
political process, have embraced him as a plain-speaking populist.
Steve
House, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party and an unbound
delegate who confirmed his support of Trump to the AP, said he likes the
billionaire's background as a businessman.
"Leadership is leadership," House said. "If he can surround himself with the political talent, I think he will be fine."
Still, Trump's pivotal moment comes amid a new sign of internal problems.
Hours
before clinching the nomination, he announced the departure of
political director Rick Wiley, who was leading the campaign's push to
hire staff in key battleground states. In a statement, Trump's campaign
said Wiley had been hired only until the candidate's organization "was
running full steam."
His hiring about six
weeks ago was seen as a sign that party veterans were embracing Trump's
campaign. The White House contender ignored questions about internal
problems on Thursday and instead took aim at Clinton.
He
told a Bismarck audience that Clinton has "declared war on the American
worker," that she's "going to abolish your right to own guns," and that
she created a foreign policy legacy "of total chaos."
He
said, "The choice in November is a choice between a Clinton agenda that
puts donors first or an agenda that puts America first: my agenda."
Trump
also entered a new phase on the fundraising front. Having bashed donors
for much of the past year, he hosted his first major campaign
fundraiser the night before: a $25,000-per-ticket dinner in Los Angeles.
He dismissed questions about the fundraising shift on Thursday and turned back toward Clinton.
"I love watching Hillary and Bernie go at it," he said. "In fact, Bernie is giving me some great lines."
