HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Florida GOP Chairman Blaise Ingoglio says the Trump campaign has apologized to him after Corey Lewandowski incorrectly told a national TV audience that Ingoglio handpicks 30 of the state’s Republican delegates.
Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign manager, told Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace last weekend that Ingoglio’s position in the party allows him to select 30 of Florida’s 99 delegates. Ingoglio, Lewandowski said, was an “avid and outward supporter of Marco Rubio.”
Ingoglio shot back at the Trump camp, saying he cannot “appoint” delegates but instead can suggest 15 of the 99 delegates to the state’s executive committee.
“I called the Trump campaign with my displeasure and because it was erroneous information, both on process and on substance—Politifact, in fact, said his statement was false. Stuff like this happens in campaigns where misinformation or disinformation comes out. It’s our job to make sure correct information comes out,” Ingoglio told The Daily Caller at the Republican National Committee meeting Wednesday.
“Anyone who knows me knows that I play by the rules,” he later said. “I make sure I stay impartial on this stuff. We continue to have productive conversations with all the campaigns.”
Ingoglio would not reveal who he spoke to at the Trump camp, but said it was a senior official.
“They were apologetic because they knew how fair we’d been in the process.”
Ingoglio insists the flap did not cause a major rift in the state party’s relationship with the Trump campaign.
“We continue to have a productive working relationship with the Trump camp,” he said.