The Republican Party "manipulated" Colorado's convention last weekend, which ended with Ted Cruz receiving all of the Centennial State's 34 delegates, former Rep. Tom Tancredo told
Newsmax TV on Friday.
"It absolutely was," Tancredo, who served on Capitol Hill for a decade beginning in 1999, told "Newsmax Prime" host J.D. Hayworth. He quit the GOP last year and
described Cruz as "the real deal" in January.
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Colorado's convention last Saturday capped a delegate-selection process that effectively locked out 90 percent of the state's Republican voters, according to news reports.
Hayworth asked Tancredo: "You're saying the party tried to control this thing and silence the [Donald] Trump folks? Would you go that far?"
"Yes, absolutely," he responded. He cited a video clip he saw as recently as six months ago featuring Colorado Republican Party Chairman Steve House and a delegate who later attended the convention.
"The fact is he told a group of people in Pueblo, Colo., in a meeting — and this is months and months ago, and I'm paraphrasing — 'We got to do something to stop Trump," Tancredo told Hayworth.
"This is the chairman of the party talking about, even at the time [when Trump was] the leader in the Republican presidential primary, telling people they've got to do something to stop him."