Donald Trump has secured the number of delegates required to win the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday.
"I was coming out of my building this morning, and there was a big newsflash that Donald Trump had won the nomination," an emotional Trump said in the midst of applause. "The delegates from.. North Dakota.. I guess you called them unbound, but now they are bound. So North Dakota, you brought us out of the line folks, and I will always remember that."
The unbound delegates who pledged support for Trump helped him cross the mark weeks earlier than expected.
As many as 1,237 delegates are required to win the Republican party nomination, and Trump has already reached 1,238 (media estimate). On June 7, another 303 delegates are scheduled to vote in the remaining five state primaries, where more victories could assure Trump a comfortable nomination without threat of a contested convention.
The Republican party has not yet formally given a delegate count, but many of the US news outlets have been keeping track of the numbers. CNN said that the Thursday delegate estimate for Trump was 1,237, while according to ABC America it was 1,239.
Trump will not formally accept the party nomination until the delegates cast their votes in July convention, but having enough votes beyond the threshold limit might translate into an easy nomination for him.
"No one in American history has moved from a June 16 announcement to a May 26 winning of a majority," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich wrote on Twitter.
A recent Fox News poll showed that 82 percent of Republicans supported Trump. Also, a Real Clear Politics poll showed that Trump may give HIllary Clinton a tougher competition than anticipated.
President Barack Obama criticized Trump, and expressed doubt about his governing and political skills.
"[World leaders] are rattled by him and for good reason, because a lot of the proposals that he's made display either ignorance of world affairs or a cavalier attitude," Obama said.
To the above comments, Trump responded, "That's good, is that right? That's good. I love that word. He used a bad word because he knows nothing about business," he said. "When you rattle someone, that's good... Many of the countries in our world, our beautiful world, had been absolutely abusing us and taking advantage of us. So if they're rattled in a friendly way, we're going to have great relationships with these countries, but if they're rattled in a friendly way, that's a good thing...not a bad thing."
In another unexpected turn of events this election season, Trump and Democratic nomination hopeful Bernie Sanders expressed their mutual desire to organize a debate soon.
"I'd love to debate Bernie," Trump told reporters in North Dakota. "I think it would get very high ratings. It would be in a big arena."
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said that such a debate is not formalized yet, but Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said that "a few discussions" have been carried out between the two camps.
