Donald Trump's campaign advisers told surrogates Tuesday that they expect the Republican front-runner to win more than 1,400 delegates to take the party's nomination on the first ballot at the convention in Cleveland in July.
"The Cruz spin machine produces more lies than anything else," the advisers said in a memo distributed by email late Tuesday. The document was
obtained by The Washington Post.
"Our projections call for us to accumulate over 1,400 delegates and thus a first ballot nomination win in Cleveland," the 1,165-word memo says.
According to the Post, the email was sent to a blind list of supporters by Trump aide Erica Freeman. Two other staffers, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks, and Rick Gates, a deputy to recently-hired top aide Paul Manafort deputy, were copied.
The advisers described Trump, who trounced his opponents in the New York primary on Tuesday, as the "prohibitive favorite" — calling the win "YUGE" and encouraging supporters to slam the Republican Party's "rigged" delegate process, the Post reports.
"We might as well have had straw polls instead of secretary of state-sanctioned primaries," the memo reads.
"The RNC has a lot to answer for as do those who are part of the donor class and the party establishment," the document continues. "This movement scares the hell out of them and the people scare them, so they will do whatever they can to keep power."
The document also discusses the fallout in the Trump campaign, with Manafort assuming greater control over once-embattled campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, whose authority has been scaled back.
"Building out our campaign staff to make sure we leave no stone unturned and that we can win this thing on the up and up — not through a rigged set of rules," the memo reads.
To win the GOP nomination, a candidate needs at least 1,237 delegates. After Tuesday's win in New York's primary, Trump has 845 delegates — while Cruz has 559 and Ohio Gov. John Kasich 147.
Trump plans to reach the 1,400 goal by winning primaries between now and June and by reaching out to the nearly 200 unbound convention delegates, the Post reports.