WASHINGTON -- Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump rallied supporters in the nation's capital Friday, with both parties executing plans to unify around their respective candidates.

Trump continued his monthslong effort to win over the Republican base, with events wooing top donors and evangelical voters.

Clinton, after securing endorsements from key Democrats the day before, addressed advocates at Planned Parenthood, the women's health organization and abortion provider. The nonprofit was a strong champion of Clinton in the primaries, giving her the first endorsement in its 100-year history.

In her first speech since her campaign said it had secured the nomination, Clinton criticized Trump as someone who "doesn't hold women in high regard," arguing he would take the country back to "when abortion was illegal, women had far fewer options and life for too many women and girls was limited."

"When Donald Trump says, 'Let's make America great again,' that is code for 'Let's take America backward,'" she told the cheering audience.

With one primary contest remaining -- for Democrats in the District of Columbia -- a series of top Democrats this week formally announced their support for Clinton, headlined by the endorsement of President Barack Obama on Thursday.

Within hours, Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts joined that effort, both backing Clinton and signaling to many of Bernie Sanders' supporters that it's time to unite around the former secretary of state.

Obama plans to campaign next week with Clinton in Green Bay, Wis., marking his first major foray into the 2016 campaign.

"It was a wonderful, meaning endorsement in every way," Clinton said in Washington.

Clinton and Warren met privately for about an hour Friday morning at Clinton's home in Washington.

Many Democrats have suggested that Warren could be Clinton's choice for vice president.

Clinton has said she would not rule out an all-woman ticket. She also has said the most important criterion for her will be whether her vice president could be ready to serve as president in a heartbeat.

But former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Clinton ally and co-host of the Democratic National Committee convention in Philadelphia next month, told an interviewer Thursday that Warren is in "no way, shape or form" ready for the presidency. Hours later, Warren told MSNBC interviewer Rachel Maddow that she would be fully capable of being president.

Trump had a few words to say online about Warren's endorsement of Clinton. "Pocahontas is at it again!" he tweeted Friday morning, using his nickname for Warren. "Goofy Elizabeth Warren, one of the least productive U.S. Senators, has a nasty mouth. Hope she is V.P. choice."

Meanwhile, Democrats in Washington are eager to unite their party against Trump and avoid a lingering intraparty spat.

Sanders, who has vowed to take his political revolution to the party's national convention in July, has been stressing his determination to defeat Trump, perhaps signaling that he may exit the race or at least shift his focus away from Clinton after the final primary election is held next Tuesday.

On Friday, the senator returned to his home in Burlington, Vt., to plan his next steps ahead of Tuesday's vote in D.C.

Trump courts evangelicals

Trump on Friday addressed a gathering of conservative evangelical voters at the Faith & Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority conference.

Facing criticism for suggesting that a judge's Mexican heritage made him biased in a case against the now-defunct Trump University, Trump struck a more welcoming tone Friday.

"No one should be judged by their race or their color and the color of their skin," he said. "We're going to bring our nation together."

He declared Clinton "unfit to be president" while vowing to "restore faith to its proper mantle" in the U.S.

As he took the stage, Trump boasted of the support he received from evangelicals in the Republican primaries and touted his opposition to abortion rights and commitment to religious freedom. Seizing on social issues, Trump said Clinton would appoint "radical" judges who would "abolish" the Second Amendment and "destroy the rule of law."

Trump also proposed "tough new ethics rules to restore dignity of the office of the secretary of state" and challenged Clinton to drop her support for increasing refugee admissions and instead support "a new jobs program for our inner cities."

He said Clinton's policies on immigration, education and trade would harm working families and "plunge our poor African-American and Hispanic communities into turmoil and even worse despair."

"Her policies will be a crushing blow to all poor people in this country," he said.

He also accused Clinton of failing to understand the gravity of the risk posed by Islamic extremism.

"Hillary will bring hundreds of thousands of refugees, many of whom have hostile beliefs about people of different faiths and values and some of whom absolutely and openly support terrorism in our country," he said. "We have to temporarily stop this whole thing with what's going on with refugees where we don't know where they come from." Clinton has proposed allowing 65,000 Syrian refugees into the country each year.

His speech was interrupted by several protesters, including one woman who screamed "Refugees are welcome here!" as she was escorted out of the room.

Former primary rival Carly Fiorina, who spoke immediately before Trump, did not mention the businessman's name during her remarks, which heavily criticized Clinton.

Reining in rhetoric

As Trump moves forward with his general-election campaign, a thorny question has arisen among Republicans: How does the party keep Trump in check?

"A primary campaign against 16 opponents is very different and combative in a different way than a general election against a well-organized, well-funded Clinton machine," said Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., who has been helping to coordinate Trump's outreach to Congress.

After comments about U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel in the Trump University case, Trump received a series of phone calls from concerned Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, pressing the gravity of the situation.

"I explained exactly what I thought about that comment. I said it publicly and I said it privately," Ryan said in an interview that aired Friday on Good Morning America.

"I don't know what's in his heart," he added. "But I do think, hope and believe that he's going to improve the tenor of the campaign, the tone of the campaign, the kind of campaign that he's going to run."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Thursday that Trump needs to pick an experienced running mate because "he doesn't know a lot about the issues," and he urged Trump to change course on his rhetoric.

"He needs someone highly experienced and very knowledgeable because it's pretty obvious he doesn't know a lot about the issues," McConnell said. "You see that in the debates in which he's participated. It's why I have argued to him publicly and privately that he ought to use a script more often. There is nothing wrong with having prepared texts."

McConnell said he remains "comfortable" backing Trump.

"For all of his obvious shortcomings, Donald Trump is certainly a different direction," McConnell said. "And I think if he is in the White House, he'll have to respond to the right-of-center world which elected him, and the things that we believe in. So I'm comfortable supporting him."

Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski dismissed the idea of a political intervention and pushed back against the notion that Republicans are looking for Trump to tone down his rhetoric, and he stressed that the candidate is not going to change.

"I don't know if they're saying we need to rein him in. They are not used to a presidential candidate who speaks from the heart and talks the way the American public speaks. They are used to politicians who are all talk and not action. That's not Mr. Trump," Lewandowski said, adding, "His messaging is not going to change going forward."

Lewandowski also downplayed Trump's use of a teleprompter during a primary-victory speech Tuesday night. Lewandowski noted that Trump has used teleprompters on multiple occasions to deliver specific remarks.

"From time to time, he'll use it. But's a function of the audience and what he wants to say. I can guarantee you this: In Richmond tonight, it will not be a teleprompter speech," he said ahead of Trump's Friday night rally in Virginia.

Still, supporters say they're confident that Trump is growing into his role.

Collins said he understood there would be lingering questions about Trump after his comments about the judge, but added that the Tuesday speech was part of what he sees as a "total pivot" by the candidate.

"Mr. Trump is a very smart guy and wants to win," he said after a weekly gathering with Trump staff members on Thursday. "I'm convinced we'll see a very disciplined GOP nominee moving forward."

"I think Donald is learning how to be a candidate," said John Catsimatidis, a New York businessman and major political donor, as he left a private gathering with Trump on Thursday. "I think he's getting better and better at it."

Others, however, remain doubtful.

"You know, I think everybody can change," Tom Coburn, a former U.S. senator from Oklahoma, said Thursday on Morning Joe. "The question is does he have the self-discipline and some control over his ego to be able to say 'I'm wrong' every now and then? And I haven't seen that."

Information for this article was contributed by Lisa Lerer, Jill Colvin, Josh Lederman, Ken Thomas, Erica Werner, Laurie Kellman, Sarah Grace Taylor and Jonathan Lemire of The Associated Press; by Anne Gearan of The Washington Post; and by Betsy Fischer Martin, Tammy Haddad and Steven T. Dennis of Bloomberg News.

A Section on 06/11/2016