Has to unite

Trump: 'The party has to unite'

By Nick Gass

The Republican Party must unite around his campaign in order to maintain its majorities in the House and Senate, Donald Trump said in an interview aired Thursday night, touting several of his former presidential rivals as people who could play a role in his effort going forward.

During an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, Trump was asked to name any of his former opponents or anyone else he would like to see join his campaign to unite Republicans. Trump noted support from Ben Carson ("a terrific guy") and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ("a fantastic guy").

"Frankly, Marco [Rubio], I’d love to have involved. I mean, honestly, many of them," he said, referring to the Florida senator he derided during the campaign as "Liddle Marco." "Almost all of ‘em. I’m not saying all of ‘em, but almost all of ‘em. The party has to unite. If we unite, this party is going to have a huge victory."

If the party unites behind him, Trump said, then "you’re gonna have the House, you’re gonna have the Senate."

Trump's remarks came as his new top campaign aides, Paul Manafort and Rick Wiley, held a closed-door briefing in Hollywood, Florida, to make much the same case to Republican National Committee members.

"I’m gonna win Michigan, I’m gonna win, I have a chance at winning New York. That’s a tough one, ‘cause as I told you, people don’t even, Republicans don’t even campaign in New York. I have a chance of winning," Trump said, as Hannity suggested that New Jersey would also be favorable to him. (New Jersey last voted for a Republican for president in 1988.)

"You saw what I did just a couple of days ago. New Jersey, I’m gonna win New Jersey," Trump continued. "I love New Jersey, and they like me. I mean, you look at the polls right now. We’re going to win Pennsylvania, we’re going to win places that other people have no chance of winning. And frankly, New York because of the size, New Jersey because of the size, very big — we’re gonna have victories that nobody else would have. I would love to see a united party. If this party unites, we’re gonna have a total victory.”

As for whether he would name people he would have on his team before the election, Trump said he would like to do so, such as "certain people, frankly, people that were on the stage with me that are excellent people and they didn’t make it quite."

"Some did a really good job, and you know, Ben Carson did a fantastic job and so did Chris Christie and so did Marco and so did numerous other of the people. And I got to know them all, and it’s a little bit tough because we’re warring against each other," he said. "But I’ll tell you, the other ones I’m going to name very soon."

Trump then said, as he has previously, that he is "going to name 10 or 12 judges that I would recommend to put on the Supreme Court, and I’m going to name upfront and I’m only going to take the judges out of that pool of judges."

"Because I want people to understand that I want the values, in terms of the Republican Party and the conservatives, I want, I want judges that [people will be] happy with," he said. "And I’m going to actually name, I’m going to actually name 10 or 12 judges upfront.”