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Trump team continues criticism of AZ convention

Posted at 7:58 PM, May 02, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-03 08:06:39-04

Confusion among Donald Trump's Arizona campaign team may have led to a disappointing showing at the state Republican convention this weekend.

A YouTube video surfaced Monday showing state Treasurer Jeff DeWitt, Trump's Arizona campaign chairman, yelling at other supporters about the names on their delegate slate.

Former Governor Jan Brewer was one of several Trump supporters to not make the final cut. After failing to garner enough votes in two rounds Saturday, she'll have to sit out this year's convention in Cleveland. She attended the last five Republican National Conventions.

Afterward, Brewer questioned the integrity of the Arizona Republican Party's voting system.

"I got cheated," Brewer said on a cable new show Monday. "I got cheated, and there were glitches and errors all along the way."

Arizona Republican Party leaders say the process was fair.  Chairman Robert Graham said the party has no control over which delegate candidates end up on which presidential slates. He said Trump supporters could have added Brewer's name to their delegate ballots, if they replaced another name from the pre-selected Trump slate.

“The irony of this whole thing was it was a fantastic run meeting, even through the electronic voting,” said Graham. “There were some people who don't win, and when people don't win, they get unhappy.”

When all the Republican delegate votes were counted, Ted Cruz’s and John Kasich’s teams won more combined convention seats than Trump's team, despite Trump easily winning the state's presidential preference election in March.  All 58 delegates must choose Trump on the first ballot, but are free to vote their conscience should Trump not secure the 1,237 delegates needed in the first round of voting.