Peter Wehner, a Republican official who served in the last three Republican presidential administrations, wrote a scathing op-ed in the New York Times slamming Trump.
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“That was a very insulting statement”, Trump finished, prompting cheers from the crowd.
Trump argued that the questions about eligibility of Cruz because he was born in Canada are being raised by eminent constitution lawyers and it is time that the Texas Senator gets it clarified by the Court or else the Democrats are getting ready to file a lawsuit against him.
On the campaign trail, Trump has been claiming that Cruz’s Canadian birth means he is not necessarily a natural-born citizen and therefore could make him vulnerable to litigation from Democrats.
Underscoring the split in the party that has defined the turbulent Republican primary, the more mainstream candidates on stage fought to edge their way into the debate.
It’s probably not surprising two days after the State of the Union address, but President Barack Obama was at the center of the debate.
Rubio likened Christie’s policies to President Obama’s, particularly on guns, Planned Parenthood and education reform – an attack Christie declared false.
“You used to support legalising people that were here illegally, now you say you’re against it. You used to say that you were in favour of birthright citizenship, now you say that you are against it. But the poll numbers have”, Cruz said to laughter and applause. “That is political calculation”.
Mr Cruz also defended his failure to disclose loans of some 1 million dollars from Wall Street banks on federal election forms during his 2012 Senate campaign, saying it was little more than a “paperwork error”.
Chris Christie and Marco Rubio went head-to-head over Christie’s record in New Jersey.
Trump objected to Cruz’s comments on his city by referring to the September 11, 2001 attacks. “It’s peanuts”, Trump said.
“I could say, oh, I’m not angry”. “And I will gladly accept the mantle of anger”. The US Constitution mandates that only “natural born” citizens can become president of the United States. He said he had no regrets about the proposal and noted his poll numbers went up after he announced the plan.
In response, Christie criticized Rubio for doing something he criticized former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for doing during the third presidential debate in October.
“What kind of signal does that send to the rest of the world?” said Bush, who has struggled to gain any momentum in the race and often appeared overshadowed Thursday night. Trump doubled down on his anti-Muslim and tariffs-on-China policies.
Trump stressed the importance of protecting our borders from terrorists using the refugee crisis as a way to cross into the U.S. “It’s not fear and terror – it’s reality”, he said. “But we don’t want to put everybody in the same category”.
Despite bickering among the candidates, they all united over the topic of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Bush suggested the country was less safe under Obama and declared Clinton would be a “national security disaster”. I would be disqualified, Marco Rubio would be, Bobby Jindal would be disqualified.
Ben Carson, consistently found to be among the most likable candidates in polls, generated laughs after joking about having to wait almost 15 minutes to get his first question.
“The fact is, there’s a big overhang, there’s a big question mark on your head, and you can’t do that to the party”, he said.
The rivalry between the Republican Party’s two leading candidates for president intensified in Thursday’s debate, which featured the most rollicking action to date. Businesswoman Carly Fiorina was bumped to the undercard event, as was Kentucky Sen.
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A Reuters/Ipsos rolling national poll on January 12 showed Trump had 39 percent of the vote, Cruz 14.5 percent, Bush 10.6 percent, Carson 9.6 percent, while 6.7 percent favored Rubio, once viewed by the Republican establishment and many donors as a rising star.
