Donald Trump on Tuesday slammed Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus a "disgrace" and blasted the party's delegate system as "absolutely rigged."
"Reince Priebus should be ashamed of himself,"
he told The Hill in an interview. "He should be ashamed of himself because he knows what's going on.
"It's a disgrace for the party," the presidential front-runner added, though he said that he had not "given any thought" on whether to call on Priebus to step down.
Trump has been attacking the delegate system since Saturday, when Colorado awarded 34 delegates to rival Ted Cruz only through a state Republican Party convention in a process that effectively shut out 90 percent of the Colorado's GOP voters.
"It should go to a vote in Colorado like other places," Trump said. "The best way to do it would be just a vote, should be a vote of the people.
"That's the way it should be done. The delegate situation is a very unjust way of doing things."
He ripped the process at a rally in Rome, N.Y., Tuesday — calling it "absolutely rigged" and charging that the RNC "should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this kind of crap to happen.
"This is a dirty trick," Trump declared. "Our Republican system, our Republican system is absolutely rigged. It is a phony deal."
However, when The Hill asked Trump whether he would sue the RNC over the issue, he responded: "I don't want to think about suing yet. I'm not looking to do the lawsuits. I'm looking to have it steered right."
Sean Spicer, committee's chief strategist and communications director, told The Hill in response: "Each state and territory submitted a plan on how to allocate and select their delegates last year.
"Those plans were made available to every campaign," he said. "Understanding the delegate selection and allocation is a basic part of the campaign."
Priebus himself said late Tuesday on Twitter:
On Tuesday, Cruz accused Trump of "whining" about the process.
"Donald has been yelling and screaming," the Texas senator told a rally in Irvine, Calif.,
Fox News reports. "A lot of whining.
"I'm sure some cursing," he continued. "And some late-night fevered tweeting."
The latest flare-up between Trump and Priebus — coming fewer than 100 days before the party's convention in Cleveland in July — marks yet another turn in their often fractious relationship.
Just months after Trump declared his candidacy last June, he first threatened an independent run if he did not win the nomination. Priebus, however, persuaded him to sign a pledge to support the eventual nominee.
"I will be totally pledging allegiance to the Republican Party and the conservative principles for which it stands," Trump said in September. "We will fight hard and we will win."
But last month, the developer scrapped the pledge because "I've been treated very unfairly" by the RNC and the party establishment.
"No. I don't anymore," Trump told CNN's Anderson Cooper in Milwaukee.
Days later, the pair met at Priebus' office in Washington, with Trump describing it as "a unity meeting" and the chairman saying that "we did talk about unity and working together."
But on Tuesday, Trump was outraged at Saturday's outcome in the Centennial State.
"I would have won Colorado," he told The Hill. "It's not democracy. It's such a sad thing that the Republican Party has come to this.
"The Republican system is unfair, unjust and they should create a fair system based on votes — not a system like they have known that is based on politics as usual," he added.
When asked whether he has discussed the matter with Priebus, The Hill reported that Trump only shrugged his shoulders before saying: "Whatever happens, happens.
"I think the Republicans are being embarrassed. The whole country is talking about the scam that is going on and it's politics.
"I mean, basically the politicians put this in so that they can pick whoever they want, but I think we're going to have a big surprise for them."
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