The US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has reached the number of delegates needed to secure the party’s presidential nomination.
In North Dakota on Thursday, he thanked 15 unbound delegates from the state who he said “got us right over the top”.
He defeated 16 other Republican contenders and according to AP has 1,238 delegates, one more than needed. Republicans will finalize their nomination at a convention in July, BBC reported.
While Trump has the required amount of delegates, his nomination by a divided Republican Party is not yet secured. Unbound delegates in the party are free to support the candidate of their choice.
If his nomination is confirmed, Trump will face former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton or Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who are vying for the Democrat nomination.
On Wednesday, the New York billionaire suggested going against Sanders in a TV debate in California before the state’s primary on 7 June. Sanders agreed to the debate in a tweet, saying “Game on”.
He also threw a barb in Clinton’s direction, saying: “Here I am watching Hillary fight and she can’t close the deal. That should be such an easy deal to close.”
Earlier, US President Barack Obama said world leaders “had good reason to be rattled” by Trump, whose proposals he said were “either ignorance of world affairs or a cavalier attitude”.
In response to that, Trump told reporters in North Dakota that rattling leaders of other countries was a “good thing”.
