After Donald Trump lost the Republican Iowa caucuses, it’s no surprise we’d hear about it from Trump himself.
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Mr Trump has claimed that the senator “stole” the Republican caucuses and accused him of “fraud” because his campaign issued a release to say that another conservative candidate, retired surgeon Ben Carson, had left the race and voters then turned to the Texan.
The real estate mogul argued for a “new election” or for the Texas senator’s results to be “nullified”.
Trump polled 24 per cent of the vote behind Texan senator Ted Cruz’s 28 per cent. That sounds like bad news for Republican establishment leaders and moderates, who fear that the nomination of either man would be an electoral disaster that would gift the November elections to their Democratic Party opponents.
The accusations, the latest in a long line of Trump insults aimed at his rivals, come in stark contrast to his gracious concession speech in Iowa on Monday, saying he was “honored” to finish second.
While polls put Trump firmly ahead in New Hampshire, the situation in the run-up to Iowa wasn’t much different.
Cruz reiterated that his political staff circulated a CNN report on Monday night during the caucus indicating Carson was returning to Florida instead of going to New Hampshire or SC, the next primary states. Ted Cruz committed “fraud” when he sent an email to supporters that implied Dr. Ben Carson had dropped out of the race. Ted Cruz and said he performed better than most seasoned politicians. “Whether Trump calls it stealing, or we call it cheating – to us it’s the same”.
“And finally, Cruz strongly told thousands of caucus goers (voters) that Trump was strongly in favour of Obama Care and “choice” – a total lie!”, he said. Marco Rubio, the Florida senator, also surged to third place just behind Trump.
The volley comes as Mr Trump looks to rebound in New Hampshire following Monday’s defeat in the first presidential nominating contest.
One bone of contention: Trump said voters aren’t giving him credit for self-funding his campaign and forgoing donations from special interests and so-called super-PACs.
“He has said really outlandish things in the past and none of them have really hurt him in the polls. Most will go to Cruz, I hope”.
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Ms Clinton, meanwhile, beat Mr Trump by five points, was tied with Mr Cruz, and trailed Mr Rubio by seven points.
