ANAHEIM, Calif. -- A day after protesters outside a Donald Trump rally in New Mexico clashed with police and toppled barricades, the New York businessman railed against Hillary Clinton during a less heated rally Wednesday.

Outside, demonstrators during the rally quietly held up signs reading "Love and Peace" and "Migration is beautiful," but the crowd grew rowdier as Trump supporters left the event.

The two sides shouted at each other as dozens of police, some on horseback, moved in to prevent a replay of Tuesday night's violence in Albuquerque, N.M.

Outside the Anaheim event, five people were arrested Wednesday as a line of police slowly moved scattered protesters along a nearby street.

Inside, Trump's rally was interrupted several times by protesters who were escorted out of the Anaheim Convention Center, which was packed with thousands of Trump supporters.

"Get them out," he shouted at one point. But Trump urged his supporters and security to handle the interrupters gently. "Don't hurt them," he said. "I say that for the television cameras. Do not hurt him even though he's a bad person."

Later, a pair of protesters in the stands behind the candidate ripped a Trump sign in half and made a rude gesture toward the crowd.

As for Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, Trump noted Wednesday's report by the State Department inspector general that faulted her for her use of a private email server for official business while she was secretary of state.

"She had a little bad news today, as you know. Some reports came down, weren't so good," Trump said. "The inspector general's report -- not good."

Trump said he was eager to run against Clinton, but he wondered aloud whether she would be the Democratic Party's nominee.

"It could be we're going to run against Crazy Bernie," he said, referring to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. "He's a crazy man, but that's OK. We like crazy people."

He also went after U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who has been vigorously criticizing him.

"She gets nothing done, nothing passed. She's got a big mouth, and that's about it," he said of Warren.

Trump touted his support from women, meeting with a group of female business leaders ahead of the rally and inviting several onstage. "I'm telling you, women do like me," he said.

Before the Anaheim rally, police issued a warning to protesters that violence would not be tolerated after the clashes between anti-Trump protesters and police in Albuquerque a day earlier.

Anti-Trump protesters had thrown burning T-shirts, plastic bottles and other items at police officers, injuring several, and had toppled trash cans and barricades.

Police responded by firing pepper spray and smoke grenades into the crowd outside the Albuquerque Convention Center.

The violence in New Mexico has prompted security concerns beyond California. Police in Bismarck, N.D., said Wednesday that they would dedicate about a quarter of their force for security when Trump heads to the state today.

Sgt. Mark Buschena said about 30 officers would be assigned to the event at the Bismarck Civic Center. Trump is the keynote speaker at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference and Expo, which about 7,000 people are expected to attend.

Trump attended a fundraiser in the Los Angeles area Wednesday evening. After North Dakota, he'll return to California on Friday for visits to Fresno and San Diego.

Separately Wednesday, Trump's political director Rick Wiley abruptly left the campaign after being hired six weeks ago. Wiley had been overseeing hiring of staff members in battleground states and working closely with the Republican National Committee.

In a statement, Trump's campaign said Wiley had been hired only on a short-term basis until the candidate's organization "was running full steam."

Working to unify

Trump's Western swing comes as he works to unify the Republican Party, which has some leaders who remain skeptical of his candidacy. During the rally, Trump offered jabs at former rival Jeb Bush and 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, neither of whom have endorsed him.

House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin is still holding out on endorsing Trump even as his staff and other House Republicans and aides communicate more closely with the Trump campaign on policy.

Meeting with reporters Wednesday, Ryan shot down rumors that an endorsement was imminent. "I don't have a timeline in my mind and I have not made a decision, and nothing's changed from that perspective," he said. "We're still having productive conversations."

Later in the day, his staff disclosed that Ryan planned to speak with Trump on Wednesday evening by phone but insisted it was not about an endorsement. "The purpose of the call tonight is for the two of them to continue their conversation about unifying the party. We never gave any indication that the call was about an endorsement," spokesman Zack Roday said.

Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort told a small group of lawmakers May 19 that he expected an endorsement from Ryan as early as this week, according to two people in the meeting.

Ryan said he is still hearing input and suggestions from all sides.

"I think it's important that we actually discuss the principles that we all share in common and the policies that come from them, and get a good understanding on bills," he said. "Our staffs talk virtually every day. We're having good conversations."

Ryan has said that he doesn't want a "fake unification," but he and Trump remain far apart on several significant policy issues, particularly free trade and immigration.

"There are clearly going to be policy disputes between Republicans," Ryan said Wednesday. "The point is can we operate off the common principles."

Behind the scenes over the past two weeks, Ryan and Trump aides have held a series of meetings on policy issues that could clear the way for Ryan's endorsement.

Ryan's chief of staff, David Hoppe, has been either attending or closely monitoring meetings away from Capitol Hill with Stephen Miller, a top Trump aide, according to a person familiar with the meetings. Miller used to work for U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who was the first senator to endorse Trump.

Democrats divided

On the Democratic side, party leaders remained divided about Sanders' continued campaign. He has faced calls to end his bid for president to support Clinton.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday defended the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who has been under attack from Sanders for maintaining a system that he said has undermined his campaign.

"Chairwoman [Debbie] Wasserman Schultz has the respect of her colleagues for her efforts and her leadership to unify the party and to win the election in November," said Pelosi, D-Calif. Pressed on whether she agreed with those sentiments, Pelosi said, "That was my statement."

Pelosi said she was unaware of reports that some Democrats felt that retaining Wasserman Schultz, a U.S. congressman from Florida, was making it difficult for the party to coalesce. Several congressional Democrats were reluctant Wednesday to discuss whether Wasserman Schultz was viewed as a hindrance to unity.

"I'm not going to get involved in conversations about personality," Pelosi said. "I told you that Debbie Wasserman Schultz has the respect of her colleagues in the House for her hard work to unify and to win the elections."

Sanders' campaign against Clinton has created rifts within the party, with many of his more liberal, younger supporters following his lead and expressing resentment against the party's traditional power base.

Sanders has criticized Wasserman Schultz for scheduling debates on weekend nights, for not opening primaries to independent voters and for maintaining the superdelegate system that helped Clinton pad her lead.

Those ill feelings bubbled over this month at the Nevada Democratic Party convention in Las Vegas. Sanders supporters shouted down speakers and later made death threats against the state party chairman.

Party leaders, including Wasserman Schultz, urged Sanders to vigorously condemn the outbursts.

"There is no excuse for what happened in Nevada, and it is incumbent upon all of us in positions of leadership to speak out," she said.

Although Sanders said he condemns violence, he repeated his supporters' accusations that they were treated unfairly in the Nevada delegate selection process, which the party denied.

Sanders has said he's supporting a challenger to Wasserman Schultz in the contest for the Democratic nomination for her House seat. He said that if he were elected president, he would not reappoint her to lead the party.

Wasserman Schultz has led the Democratic National Committee since 2011, and her current term expires in early 2017. The party chairman is traditionally selected by the party's presidential nominee and the committee.

U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., a Sanders supporter, said Wednesday that for the party to unify in the long term, "You're going to need leadership that's welcoming, respectful" of progressives' views.

"If Debbie is not capable of doing that, then somebody should be found to do it," Grijalva said. Asked whether Wasserman Schultz could do those things, he said, "I'm not going to answer that one."

Information for this article was contributed by Jill Colvin, Amy Taxin, James MacPherson, Erica Werner, Alan Fram and Andrew Taylor of The Associated Press and by Michael C. Bender, Jennifer Jacobs and Billy House of Bloomberg News.

A Section on 05/26/2016