Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a town hall meeting on March 14, 2016 at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa , Florida. | Getty Trump aide Manafort: Cruz campaign using ‘Gestapo’ tactics

Donald Trump’s convention manager on Sunday accused the Ted Cruz campaign of using “Gestapo tactics” in its hunt for delegates.

“You go to these county conventions, and you see the Gestapo tactics — the scorched-earth tactics,” Trump aide Paul Manafort said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”


After playing a clip from Trump confidant Roger Stone — where Stone suggested publicizing the hotel room numbers of delegates —NBC’s Chuck Todd asked Manafort whether threatening delegates was fair game.

“It’s not my style; it’s not Donald Trump’s style,” he responded. “But it is Ted Cruz’s style. And that’s going to wear thin very fast.”

Manafort was hired by the Trump campaign to work on securing delegates ahead of a likely contested Republican convention in July. This week, Trump said that Manafort’s role was expanding to “oversee, manage, and be responsible for all activities that pertain to Mr. Trump’s delegate process and the Cleveland Convention."

Cruz’s campaign has been soundly beating Trump’s when it comes to winning delegates to the GOP convention, including in Colorado and South Carolina on Saturday.

On Sunday, Manafort accused Cruz’s campaign of foul play.

“We're going to be filing several protests because the reality is, they are not playing by the rules,” he said.

Manafort declined to talk about the tactics the Trump campaign might use to win over delegates, which will come into play if Trump fails to secure the required 1,237 delegates before the convention.

“I happen to think the best way we're going to get delegates is to have Donald Trump be exposed to delegates, let the delegates hear what he says,” he said.