Cruz: Boehner unleashed his ‘inner Trump’
I've never worked with John Boehner; "I don't know the man," @TedCruz says: https://t.co/jxozGdVxRC https://t.co/9AS5WJxsY4
— CBSN (@CBSNLive) April 28, 2016
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz on Thursday dismissed John Boehner’s criticism of him, casting the remarks as just another example of the GOP establishment targeting him.
“He allowed his inner Trump to come out,” Cruz said of Boehner, linking the former House Speaker to Donald Trump.
{mosads}Boehner on Wednesday night reportedly called Cruz “Lucifer in the flesh” and a “miserable son of a bitch.”
Cruz noted that Trump reportedly wrote a $100,000 check to the Congressional Leadership Fund, the GOP super-PAC linked to Boehner, in 2012.
“Donald Trump has been funding John Boehner, and he has also been funding Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid,” Cruz said.
“If you like what John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have done, Donald Trump is your guy.”
Ted Cruz responds to Boehner’s “Lucifer” comment: “He allowed his inner Trump to come out.” https://t.co/OrbvQpjUpa https://t.co/OfcKCufbG1
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) April 28, 2016
Cruz said he was surprised Boehner felt such vitriol, noting they rarely crossed paths.
“I’ve never worked with John Boehner. Truth of the matter is, I don’t know the man,” he said.
“I’ve met John Boehner two or three times in my life. If I have said 50 words in my life to John Boehner, I’d be surprised, and every one of them have consisted of pleasantries.”
Cruz said that during the 2013 ObamaCare fight, he reached out to Boehner and offered a meeting with Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), adding that Boehner rebuffed him.
“If you’re wondering who actually has stood up to Washington, I think John Boehner has made it crystal clear,” Cruz said, pointing to Boehner calling himself a “texting buddy” of Trump.
“I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone,” Boehner said during a Wednesday night event at Stanford University, according to The Stanford Daily. “But I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life.”
Boehner and Cruz clashed amid standoffs with the Obama administration, most notably in 2013 when Cruz, as a freshman senator, pushed to defund ObamaCare and met with members of the conservative Freedom Caucus. The efforts eventually led to a government shutdown damaging the party’s image. Later, Boehner reportedly Cruz a “jackass” over the situation.
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