DONALD Trump has signalled a new phase of his outsider US presidential campaign, searching for a running mate who could help him govern and reaching out to one-time competitors in an effort to heal the fractured Republican Party.
"I am confident I can unite much of" the party, Mr Trump said on NBC's Today Show, as several prominent Republicans said they would prefer Democrat Hillary Clinton over the New York billionaire.
In a shot at his critics, Mr Trump said: "Those people can go away and maybe come back in eight years after we served two terms. Honestly, there are some people I really don't want."
His comments on several networks came a few hours after Mr Trump, once dismissed as a fringe contender, became all but certainly the leader of the Republican Party into the autumn campaign against Mrs Clinton.
The former secretary of state suffered a defeat in Indiana to her rival, Bernie Sanders, but holds a definitive lead in Democratic delegates who will decide the Democratic nomination.
The Republican competition changed dramatically with Mr Trump's Indiana victory and Ted Cruz's abrupt decision to quit the race.
Mr Trump's surge towards the nomination - he is still about 200 delegates short of the 1,237 needed to win - left the Republican Party in a deep state of uncertainty.
Some Republican leaders remain wary of Mr Trump and have insisted they could never support him, even in a face-off against Mrs Clinton.
"The answer is simple: No," tweeted Nebraska senator Ben Sasse, who has consistently said he could not support Mr Trump.
Such Republicans worry about Mr Trump's views on immigration and foreign policy, as well as his over-the-top persona.
Hours before clinching victory in Indiana, Mr Trump was floating an unsubstantiated claim that Mr Cruz's father appeared in a 1963 photograph with John F Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald - citing a report first published by the National Enquirer.
Mr Trump defended his reference to the Enquirer article on Wednesday morning as "not such a bad thing", but the line of attack was the final straw for some Republican critics.
"(T)he GOP is going to nominate for President a guy who reads the National Enquirer and thinks it's on the level," Mark Salter, a top campaign aide to 2008 Republican nominee John McCain, wrote on Twitter. He added Mrs Clinton's slogan: "I'm with her."
Mr Trump said he respects Mr Cruz and may call him to mend the one-time alliance.
"Ted Cruz - I don't know if he likes me or he doesn't like me - but he is one hell of a competitor," Mr Trump said of his last fierce rival, whom he had dubbed "lyin' Ted".
On finding a running mate, Mr Trump told MSNBC's Morning Joe that he will "probably go the political route", saying he is inclined to pick someone who can "help me get legislation passed".
Mr Trump did not identify any of the names under consideration.
He also said he is hoping to decide within a week how to fund a general election campaign, but said he did not want to accept money from super PACs. He told ABC's Good Morning America that he would begin to accept more political donations.
"I'm really looking at small contributions, not the big ones. I don't want anyone to have big influence over me," he said.
Vermont senator Bernie Sanders eked out a victory over Mrs Clinton in Indiana, but the outcome will not slow the former secretary of state's march to the Democratic nomination. Heading into Tuesday's voting, Mrs Clinton had 92% of the delegates she needs.
"I know that the Clinton campaign thinks this campaign is over. They're wrong," Mr Sanders said defiantly in an interview on Tuesday night.
But Mrs Clinton has already turned her attention to the general election.
She and Mr Trump now plunge into a six-month battle for the presidency, with the future of America's immigration laws, healthcare system and military posture around the world at stake.
While Mrs Clinton heads into the general election with significant advantages with minority voters and women, Democrats have vowed not to underestimate Mr Trump as his Republican rivals did for too long.
Indeed, Mr Trump's first challenge will be uniting a Republican Party that has been rocked by his candidacy. While some Republican leaders have warmed to the property mogul, others see him as a threat to their party's very existence.
Even before the Indiana results were finalised, some conservative leaders were planning a meeting to assess the viability of launching a third party candidacy to compete with him in the autumn.
Mr Cruz had clung to the hope that he could keep Mr Trump from reaching the 1,237 delegates needed for the nomination and push the race to a rare contested convention. But aides said he made the decision to drop out early on Tuesday evening, shortly after most polls in Indiana had closed.
"I've said I would continue on as long as there was a viable path to victory; tonight I'm sorry to say it appears that path has been foreclosed," Mr Cruz told a sombre crowd in Indianapolis.
Only about half of Indiana's Republican primary voters said they were excited or optimistic about any of their remaining candidates becoming president, according to exit polling conducted by Edison Research for the Associated Press and television networks. Most still said they would probably support the Republican winner.
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