Presidential races

Cruz: I don’t support people who attack my family

Ted Cruz is appearing to soften on his pledge to support Donald Trump if he’s the Republican Party’s presidential nominee in the aftermath of controversy stemming from Trump’s attacks on his wife. 

{mosads}“I don’t make a habit out of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my family,” Cruz said during a news conference after a rally in Wisconsin when asked whether he’d still support Trump.  

“Donald Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee.”

Cruz, along with the entire GOP presidential field, has repeatedly pledged to support the party’s nominee, even if it’s Trump. The party had asked all its candidates to do so amid threats from the real estate mogul that he could mount a third-party bid that could sink the party’s chances at the White House. But both Cruz and John Kasich have begun to publicly retreat from such bold pronouncements. 

The Texas senator has recently answered those questions by swearing off the prospect of Trump becoming the nominee, refusing to address a hypothetical he believes will never come to pass. 

The days-long feud stemmed from a Tuesday night Trump tweet where he threatened to “spill the beans” on Heidi Cruz, and then a follow-up tweet that criticized her appearance. 

Cruz’s conference was a stream of harsh words about Trump, whom Cruz blames both for the attacks on his wife as well as a recent National Enquirer story that alleges he had several affairs. 
 
“We have done nothing to his family, and we will not. But Donald was unhappy with the news of the day, unhappy with losing elections, was unhappy with his dangerous ignorance of foreign policy being revealed on the world stage, so he decided to engage in a personal attack directed at my wife,” Cruz said. 
 
“Trump may be a rat, but I have no desire to copulate with him. And this garbage does not belong in politics.”