Donald Trump on Tuesday linked Ted Cruz’s father to Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who fatally shot President John F. Kennedy.
“His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior
to Oswald’s being — you know, shot. I mean, the whole thing is
ridiculous,” Trump said Tuesday morning during a phone interview on Fox
News. “What is this, right prior to his being shot, and nobody even
brings it up. They don't even talk about that. That was reported, and
nobody talks about it.”
“I mean, what was he doing — what was he doing
with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before the death? Before the shooting?”
Trump added. “It’s horrible.”
Trump’s comments repeated a National Enquirer
story from last month. The tabloid published images of what it claimed
showed Rafael Cruz and Oswald distributing pro-Fidel Castro pamphlets in
New Orleans in 1963, shortly before the JFK assassination. When the
Miami Herald pointed out the many problems with the National Enquirer
story, a Cruz campaign spokeswoman told the Herald the claim was “another garbage story in a tabloid full of garbage.”
Cruz spokeswoman Alice Stewart added: “The story is false; that is not Rafael in the picture.”
The Enquirer’s CEO has close ties to Trump, and the GOP front-runner’s relationship with the tabloid has been thrown into the spotlight this year amid other published claims
that Cruz has had multiple extramarital affairs. Printed stories about
Ben Carson’s alleged medical mishaps were also published before the
retired neurologist dropped out of the presidential race.
But the lack of corroboration did not stop
Trump or his campaign. Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson defended the
claim Tuesday, pointing to the fact that the story received mainstream
coverage from the Miami Herald.
“Really it was just a shock and awe that it
showed up in the Miami Herald,” Pierson said during an interview with
MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki.
When Kornacki asked Pierson to clarify if the
Trump campaign was suggesting Cruz’s father had something to do with
Kennedy’s assassination, Pierson demurred.
“Oh, I don’t know, and I think that's why it
was shocking and I think why Mr. Trump mentioned it, when the Miami
Herald reported it, so I guess they’re looking into that,” she
responded.
Trump’s allegations came after he criticized
Rafael Cruz for using his position as a preacher to court evangelical
voters for his son’s presidential campaign. When Fox News showed a video
clip of the elder Cruz asking “every member of the body of Christ” to
vote “according to the word of God” and support his son, Trump responded
by lambasting the tactic.
“I think it’s a disgrace that he’s allowed to
do it. I think it’s a disgrace that he’s allowed to say it,” Trump said
before reminding viewers of his own support from Jerry Falwell Jr. and
other evangelicals.
“You look at so many of the ministers that are
backing me, and they’re backing me more so than they’re backing Cruz,
and I’m winning the evangelical vote,” Trump added. “It’s disgraceful
that his father can go out and do that. And just — and so many people
are angry about it. And the evangelicals are angry about it, the way he
does that.”
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