Colorado GOP Chairman Gets the Jitters

DENVER (CN) — The chairman of Colorado's Republican Party said he will seek police protection for his delegation at the National Convention because he has been flooded with threatening emails and phone calls from Donald Trump supporters since Colorado backed Ted Cruz in the delegate race.

Colorado Republican Party Chairman Steve House told The Associated Press this week that one caller told him to put a gun in his mouth and "pull the trigger."

House is one of three unpledged Republican delegates from Colorado. He told National Public Radio that the threats began after 34 of Colorado's 37 delegates chose to back Ted Cruz rather than Trump.

Trump, who has performed better in states that hold traditional primaries, rather than Colorado's caucus system, told Fox TV that Colorado's voting system is rigged, and that Colorado Republicans are "going absolutely crazy because they weren't given a vote."

House told The Associated Press he wants a Colorado sheriff to escort his delegation at the National Convention in July, to thwart possible run-ins with Trump voters.

Trump's campaign manager, Hope Hicks, told CNN that Trump "does not condone violence at his rallies," though Trump rallies have been a hotbed of collisions between protesters and supporters.

In March, Trump told CNN reporter Chris Cuomo that if he lost the Republican nomination there would be riots from his supporters.

"If you disenfranchise those people and you say, 'Well, I'm sorry, but you're 100 votes short, even though the next one is 500 votes short,' I think you would have problems like you've never seen before," Trump told Cuomo.

"I think bad things would happen, I really do. I believe that. I wouldn't lead it but I think bad things would happen."

Three days after that interview, a Trump supporter sucker-punched a protester at a rally in Tucson.

Trump leads the GOP delegate race, 845 delegates to Cruz's 559 — 1,237 are needed for the nomination — 733 are still up for grabs.

Republicans will convene in Cleveland, from July 18 to 21.

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