WASHINGTON: Bolstering his grip on the Republican primaries, Donald Trump prepared for a general election showdown with Hillary Clinton.

Trump swept five states in Tuesday’s north-east primaries, bringing him tantalizingly close to securing the Republican nomination against Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Clinton, meanwhile, is now 90 percent of the way to her party’s nomination after four solid victories of her own.

Trump, the Republican businessman, pushed forward with his charge that Clinton is “playing the woman card,” telling CNN’s “New Day” in a telephone interview Wednesday that “she does have the woman card” but said that “a lot of women don’t like Hillary, despite the card.”

Clinton said during her Tuesday night rally in Philadelphia that Trump had accused her of playing the “woman card,” telling supporters, “if fighting for women’s health care and paid family leave and equal pay is playing the ‘woman card,’ then deal me in.”

The Republican race now turns to Indiana, where next week’s primary marks one of Cruz’s last chances to slow Trump and push the race toward a contested convention.