Delegates at the Republican National Convention booed Ted Cruz for refusing to endorse Donald Trump – clouding an evening meant to highlight vice presidential candidate Mike Pence as a unifying force for the party.
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The 45-year-old Texas senator sensationally withheld an endorsement of Trump in his speech on Wednesday, earning a chorus of boos from the floor while getting upstaged in a power play by the Republican party nominee himself.
Pressed by another delegate to answer the question on whether he’ll vote for Trump, Cruz said: “I answered it with as much as I’m going to say”.
During a rally in Tampa, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee praised Cruz for his remarks.
At a Republican primary debate in January, Cruz derisively said Trump “embodies NY values”.
In a press conference Friday, Trump blasted Cruz, telling reporters that, if the Texas lawmaker endorses him, he “will not accept it”. Cruz said Thursday morning he couldn’t support Trump after the real-estate mogul attacked his family.
“I think what Trump says tonight will have the biggest impact on whether or not Utahns can get behind him or not”.
As Cruz took the podium, he received a hostile reception from some people in the Texas delegation. “She came to see me because she hated to see the conflict, and she made a mistake”, Donald Trump told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in an interview Wednesday.
“He’ll come and endorse; it’s because he has no choice”.
“He went back on his word to support the nominee….”
But many in the crowd were unsatisfied with his explanations for not endorsing Trump. “It’s about the United States of America”. She was making a lot of money, believe me.
“I’m not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father”, Mr Cruz said, angrily declaring that he was not some “servile puppy dog” at Mr Trump’s feet.
But “Ted Cruz took his speech that was done, was on the teleprompter, said hello, then made a statement that wasn’t on the speech and then went back to his speech”, he said.
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To the “millions of people who were watching the convention, we think it became very clear to everybody that Donald Trump has been very magnanimous in his outreach program”, Manafort said. Trump even repeatedly surfaced National Enquirer claims that Cruz’s father, Rafael, was involved with Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who assassinated President John F. Kennedy. “He isn’t a team player”, Trump said, according to the Republicans who attended and spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private gathering. At the time, Cruz criticized Trump for involving his wife and Trump’s responded by accusing a super PAC affiliated with Cruz of sending a risque photo of Melania Trump to Utah voters.
