Donald Trump declared Wednesday that his presidential campaign was the most united it has ever been, pushing back against reports that key Republicans were planning an intervention with him to get the campaign back on track.
“I just want to tell you, the campaign is doing really well. It has never been so well united,” Mr. Trump said as he took the stage at a massive rally in Daytona Beach, Florida.
“I would say right now it is the best in terms of being united that is has been since we began,” said the New York billionaire. “We’re doing incredibly well.”
As evidence, Mr. Trump pointed to recent polls showing him leading Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton in battleground states Florida and Ohio and a neck-and-neck race in Pennsylvania.
Other polls have shown the race tied in Ohio and Mrs. Clinton leading in Pennsylvania.
Mr. Trump’s boasted about unity following reports that Republican leaders close to the campaign planned to meet with the candidate to attempt to convince him to stay on message.
Those involved in the alleged intervention include Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and Trump advisors former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
The effort was first reported by NBC News.
Mr. Trump’s campaign has taken hits for days after he got into a feud with a Muslim Gold Star family over his proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the U.S. in order to prevent terrorism.
The public spat began when Mr. Trump responded on Twitter to Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of a decorated Muslim American soldier killed in Iraq who spoke against Mr. Trump last week at the Democratic National Convention.
The feud dominated news coverage, with Mr. and Mrs. Khan appearing in a series of TV news interview and Mr. Trump firing off twitter responses.
Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort dismissed reports of the campaign seeking to regain its footing, calling it “another Clinton narrative that’s been put out there and the media is picking up on.”
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“The only need we have for an intervention is maybe with some media types who keep saying things that aren’t true,” Mr. Manafort said on Fox News.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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