Subject: RE: Event: To counter Cruz’s organization, Trump to personally court delegates at California and Virginia GOP conventions
From: "Roberts, Kelly" <[email-masked]>
To: "Sorbie, Sean" <[email-masked]>, Comm_D <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2016 10:33:18 -0700

Turn of events in VA: Trump camp told Post Mon he planned to go to VA GOP convention. Logistics now an issue, trip being nixed, per sources

Original Tweet: https://twitter.com/costareports/status/725013678752456704

From: Sorbie, Sean
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 1:30 PM
To: Roberts, Kelly; Comm_D
Subject: RE: Event: To counter Cruz’s organization, Trump to personally court delegates at California and Virginia GOP conventions

They are probably just running interference or trying not to look out of the loop, but FWIW:

Virginia GOP (RPV) @VA_GOP

We know what the @washingtonpost<https://links2.mixmaxusercontent.com/kiukqN3YWHQMEuRve/l/bZ1cLtgRHnBR6WtBz?rn=IibhV2UgwSZpJmcvNlI&re=IyZy9mLj5GZANVZpJmcvNlI> says, but @realDonaldTrump<https://links9.mixmaxusercontent.com/kiukqN3YWHQMEuRve/l/lhBdnZmrsKVtwGRbp?rn=IibhV2UgwSZpJmcvNlI&re=IyZy9mLj5GZANVZpJmcvNlI> not yet confirmed for the RPV Convention - we’ll let you know! #RPV2016<https://links3.mixmaxusercontent.com/kiukqN3YWHQMEuRve/l/TmBo5KeCBlqB75oXh?rn=IibhV2UgwSZpJmcvNlI&re=IyZy9mLj5GZANVZpJmcvNlI>

From: Roberts, Kelly
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 10:03 AM
To: Comm_D
Subject: Event: To counter Cruz’s organization, Trump to personally court delegates at California and Virginia GOP conventions

To counter Cruz’s organization, Trump to personally court delegates at California and Virginia GOP conventions<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/04/25/to-counter-cruzs-organization-trump-to-personally-court-delegates-at-california-and-virginia-gop-conventions/?postshare=3141461592814686&tid=ss_tw>
Washington Post – Robert Costa

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, whose campaign has struggled in the delegate-selection process, will appear at party conventions in California and Virginia later this week to personally court activists and address the gatherings, according to three people familiar with his plans.

Trump will stop by the Hyatt Regency hotel near the San Francisco International Airport on Friday for the opening day of the California GOP’s state convention. A day later, he will visit James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., for the Republican Party of Virginia’s convention, the people said.

The people told of Trump’s still-unannounced appearances and their impetus requested anonymity to discuss private conversations between state GOP leaders and the business mogul’s top aides.

When asked Monday for comment, a Trump adviser confirmed that the billionaire would be traveling to California and Virginia but would not provide details of his schedule.

The stops are part of an evolving strategy with Trump’s inner circle about how to counter Sen. Ted Cruz’s highly-organized efforts at recent state Republican conventions, where the Texas senator accumulated a growing number of delegates due to his team’s ability to navigate the events and rules.

Over the weekend, for example, Cruz won 95 percent of Maine’s 20 delegate seats at the state’s convention, a percentage far more than the proportion he won in the state’s caucuses.

But in Maine, Trump did not speak or hold meetings as he plans to later in the week. Instead, a leading supporter, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, spoke there as did another ally, Gov. Paul LePage (R).

Alarmed by Cruz’s success in states where Trump has done well, Trump is said to have personally requested his high command to add these two state conventions to his schedule, confident that his presence and overtures could convince some delegates to get behind his campaign.

Trump is also said to be fuming Monday about the move over the weekend by Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich to cut an unusual deal – agreeing to divvy up three upcoming primaries. Cruz will concentrate on Indiana, Kasich on New Mexico and Oregon as they try to deny Trump victories.

The trips come as Paul Manafort, Trump’s newly-enlisted confidant and convention manager, is bringing on new personnel and attempting to bolster the campaign’s delegate operation. On Monday, Ken McKay, the former campaign manager for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's unsuccessful bid for the GOP nomination, signed on as a senior adviser, a hire first reported by Bloomberg.

Trump will hold three events later Monday in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania ahead of several primaries on Tuesday, where he is expected to sweep.