WASHINGTON _ Donald Trump's campaign sent his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, out Wednesday to endorse Paul Ryan in an effort to move past the controversy sparked by the Republican presidential nominee's refusal to back the House speaker.
Pence's endorsement, which came in a phone call to Fox News Channel, came as Trump and his aides struck back against reports of panic inside the Republican Party and word that the Ryan controversy infuriated party Chairman Reince Priebus.
Pence said Trump "strongly encouraged" him to endorse Ryan, who faces a primary next week, and he said Trump's campaign was coming together.
"The candidate is in control of his campaign," top Trump aide Paul Manafort said separately on Fox News. "I'm in control of doing the things that he wants me to do."
"We are organized" and "in very good shape," Manafort said.
Priebus is furious, said a source in the party after Trump's decision Tuesday to withhold his endorsement of Ryan ahead of the House speaker's Aug. 9 primary. In language that mirrored Ryan's when he withheld his own support from Trump after the billionaire clinched the presidential nomination this spring, Trump also said he wasn't ready to back embattled Republican Sens. John McCain or Kelly Ayotte.
Manafort spoke after NBC News reported that Priebus, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani were planning an "intervention" to try to persuade Trump to reset his campaign. NBC News didn't identify its sources.
"This is the first I'm hearing of that," Manafort said on Fox News. He described reports of turmoil as "another Clinton narrative." Gingrich denied planning any intervention in an email to The New York Times.
The Trump campaign continued to push back against other unconfirmed media reports that its operation was in turmoil.
Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway on Twitter called speculation about Trump dropping out "wishful thinking."
Manafort said Trump would stick to a message of attacking Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by linking her to President Barack Obama's foreign policy. Highlighting the turmoil in the Middle East under Obama, Trump allies have said, was the candidate's intent when he criticized the parents of a slain U.S. solider who spoke about their son last week at the Democratic National Convention.
In the days following Trump's attacks on the Khan family, several well-known Republicans have withdrawn their support and even said they will vote for Clinton. They didn't include McCain or Ryan, whose office said he never asked for Trump's endorsement.
Trump's campaign Wednesday announced the results of his July fundraising ahead of the Aug. 20 deadline to report the numbers to the Federal Election Commission.
Trump raised $80 million for his campaign and party entities last month, the campaign said. Trump now has $37 million in the bank, and his joint fundraising committee with the Republican Party has an equal amount of cash on hand, according to the statement, which didn't specify how much of the total was specifically for the campaign.
Trump's national finance chairman, Steven Mnuchin, said the fundraising showed the breadth of support for Trump among average voters.
"The majority of this is ground support," Mnuchin said on Bloomberg TV. "This just goes to show you how much support there is for Donald Trump from the ground."
