Ted Cruz says a National Enquirer story accusing him of having affairs with five women is “garbage” and the work of “Donald Trump and his henchmen.”
Speaking in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on Friday, Cruz called the Enquirer story “complete and utter lies” and a “tabloid smear.”
“And it is a smear that has come from Donald Trump and his henchmen,” he said.
Cruz noted that the Enquirer story came after a tweet in which Trump threatened to “spill the beans” about Cruz without specifying what beans he meant. It was unclear if the Enquirer’s beans were the same beans that Trump had claimed to be holding in reserve.
As many mainstream media outfits avoided the story, #CruzSexScandal became the top trend on Twitter. The cat — or rat? — was out of the bag, and Cruz elected to address it head-on.
Cruz says National Enquirer story is "garbage," blames "Donald Trump and his henchmen."
— David Weigel (@daveweigel) March 25, 2016
Cruz and Trump have been locked in an increasingly ugly fight over the last few days, with Trump accusing Cruz of insulting his wife, and insulting Cruz’s wife in turn. Cruz said in his news conference that he would not attack Trump’s family.
Cruz linked the attack to Roger Stone, a conservative operative who publicly and messily parted ways with Trump in August. He said Stone has “50 years of dirty tricks behind him.”
“He’s a man for whom a term was coined for copulating with a rodent. Well let me be clear, Mr. Trump may be a rat but I have no desire to copulate with him. And this garbage does not belong in politics.”