Still, his senator “hurt the Republican Party” today, he said.
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Trump’s son Eric and top campaign aide Paul Manafort also blasted Cruz, saying he made a mistake that will haunt him in his political future.
“I think the performance you saw up there is why Ted has so so richly deserved the reputation he developed on Capitol Hill”, he added.
During their contentious primary campaign, Cruz said Trump is not a true conservative, and he repeatedly stressed the NY businessman’s long-time association with Democrats.
Mr Cruz was defeated by Mr Trump in the race to become the Republican candidate, and in his speech to party delegates he mentioned the tycoon by name only once, and stubbornly refused to endorse him as he encouraged Americans to simply “vote your conscience” in November.
Donald Trump and his aides are not happy with Ted Cruz’s refusal to endorse the Republican nominee – not happy at all.
Cruz’s comments come after he was booed off stage at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night for not endorsing Trump during a speech many hoped would strive toward uniting the party after a bitter primary in which Trump insulted his wife’s appearance and accused his father of being involved in the Kennedy assassination.
Manafort said he refuted the plagiarism charges earlier this week based on conversations he had with Melania Trump and “speechwriters”. “When she came forward, we immediately put forward the statement”. He told ABC that “people make mistakes”.
The most important speech of his presidential campaign will bring down the balloons Thursday night on a convention marked by divided loyalties and unwanted distractions. Ted Cruz’s home state, looked shellshocked in the concourse of the Quicken Loans Arena Wednesday night.
The remarkable scenes overshadowed the speech by Mike Pence, who was formally nominated for vice-president.
Earlier this week, Manafort insisted that none of Trump’s remarks had been lifted from Obama’s 2008 speech to the Democratic National Convention, despite striking parallels.
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“We have the right to free speech”, Weidenkopf said.
