Trump foes shake up US Republican convention

Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump appears onstage to introduce his wife Melania at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, US, July 18, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

Many delegates began chanting: "Roll Call. Roll Call," effectively calling for a lengthy process that would allow every state to weigh in. Some, including the Colorado delegation, walked off the convention floor saying they had to assess their next steps.

"This entire system is rigged to force the vote for Donald Trump," said Kendal Unruh, one of the Colorado delegates.

Ken Cuccinelli, a delegate from Virginia who also favored a roll-call vote, called the situation "appalling".

"This is the party of law and order. ... If you won't obey your own rules there is no reason to think you'll obey any others," Cuccinelli, the state's former attorney general, told MSNBC.

Trump's son and adviser, Donald Trump Jr., threatened the leaders of the attempted revolt, saying: "Your careers are finished" in a message posted on Twitter.

While delivering a jolt to the highly scripted program, the anti-Trump forces failed, their rebellion quashed.

The convention then approved the party policy platform and took a scheduled break before a lineup of evening speakers also due to include Trump's wife, Melania, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

But the furor, an embarrassment to Trump, put a spotlight on the deep divisions within the party that have emerged over his candidacy. A string of senior Republicans, worried about Trump's temperament and policies, were already avoiding the convention.

Clinton accuses Trump of lacking the experience and temperament needed to work in the Oval Office. On Monday, Clinton, 68, used an address to a largely black audience to cast Trump as someone who would divide the country along racial, ethnic and religious lines.