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Paul Manafort says Ted Cruz has "no issues left" and is "trying to say the process doesn't matter." | AP Trump convention manager rips Cruz's delegate effort

Donald Trump's convention manager Paul Manafort blasted Ted Cruz on Sunday for his focus on winning the Republican nomination at a contested convention, vowing that his candidate would have enough delegates to win on the first ballot in Cleveland.

The Texas senator, Manafort said in an interview with "Fox News Sunday," has "no issues left" and is "trying to say the process doesn't matter."

"He's trying to say voting doesn't matter. He's trying to say that all that matters is to destroy the party and see who can pick up the pieces on a second, third or fourth ballot," Manafort continued. "Good news for him, or for the party we’re not going to let that happen. We're going to win it on the first ballot, and it will be clear on June 7."

"And what we're trying to do right now is work with the Mitch McConnells who we didn't oppose in Kentucky even though he won the election and worked with him to put a unity slate together," Manafort said, an allusion to Cruz's bad blood with the Senate majority leader, whose home state of Kentucky unveiled its slate of 25 delegates on Saturday. "We're trying to bring the party together."

Noting that Trump won the state's caucus on March 5, Manafort said the campaign "could have gone in there and tried to be disruptive as Cruz does in these states."

"We didn't want to do that because we know we are going to be the nominee," Manafort explained. "We have to work with these people. What I was tasked to do this past week including going to the RNC meeting was to begin to have people who Trump hasn't been exposed to begin to understand that the campaign cares about them and we're going to run some traditional elections."

Manafort also rejected the notion that he is part of a new team, calling it an expansion of the existing structure. When host Chris Wallace pointed out that remarks he made to RNC members behind closed doors might suggest to some that Trump has been putting on an act, Manafort said his comments were taken out of context.

Asked whether Trump's foreign policy speech on Wednesday in Washington as well as his newfound use of teleprompters represents the candidate being taken "kicking and screaming to be more presidential," Manafort demurred.

"Campaigns are a process and Trump recognizes it and Trump's attitude has been first that he had to establish the credibility of his candidacy, which he did, then he needed to win primaries, which he did, then he had to emerge as the presumptive nominee, which he did," Manafort said. "And now as people are looking at him as the Republican nominee and potentially the next president of the United States there's another stage in the process, and that's what this is."

"And is that part of being more presidential?" Wallace asked.

Manafort replied, "It's certainly nothing that's contrary to being presidential."