Donald Trump twists the knife in Ted Cruz: 'The truth is he's a nasty guy; nobody likes him'

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Sunday lashed out at Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for continuing to attack so-called "New York values."

On ABC's This Week, host George Stephanopoulos reminded Trump that Cruz had insulted "New York values" during a recent debate, and then the Texas senator escalated his attack on New York after he was asked to apologize.

"He's doubled-down on this issue of New York City values," Stephanopoulos explained. "He lumped you in yesterday with Hillary Clinton, Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio."

"The truth is he's a nasty guy, nobody likes him," Trump replied. "Nobody in Congress likes him. He's a very -- he's got a edge that's not good. You can't make deals with people like that. It's not a good thing for the country. Very nasty guy."

Trump argued that Cruz was "a total hypocrite" because he had hosted fundraisers in New York and had not disclosed campaign loans from New York banks.

"I'm leading Ted Cruz by a lot. The polls are showing that I'm on the upswing. He's on a big down swing. But if you look at what he said and the way he said it and the scorn toward New York, I think it's a disgrace," the billionaire opined. "He's putting down the great people of New York. Who could have done what New Yorkers did under that unbelievable circumstance [after 9/11]?"

Watch the video below from ABC News, broadcast Jan. 17, 2016.