According to Paul Manafort, Donald Trump made what is described as an "uncharacteristic" apology in 2016 to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for a litany of insults he made about him and his family in the hopes that the Texas Republican would give him his whole-hearted endorsement -- only for Cruz to take a pass at an important moment before a national audience.
In his upcoming book, "Political Prisoner: Persecuted, Prosecuted, but Not Silenced," the former Trump adviser details Trump's scramble to win the 2016 Republican presidential nomination and his interactions with Cruz who was challenging him, reports the Guardian.
According to the report, as a wide array of Republicans battled for the GOP nod with outsider Trump, Cruz came under a withering assault from the New York City real estate developer, including spreading conspiracy rumors about Cruz's dad and intimating that the Texas lawmaker's wife Heidi was unattractive compared to Melania Trump.
As the Guardian's Martin Pengelly wrote, "In 2016, in a brutal primary, Trump insinuated Cruz’s wife was ugly and linked his father to the assassination of John F Kennedy. He also questioned whether Cruz, born in Canada, was qualified to be US president and coined a lasting nickname, Lyin’ Ted," adding that Trump "...is famous for never apologizing, whether in his business career or in his seven-year careen across the US political scene."
According to Manafort, Trump did indeed apologize to Cruz to his face, telling, "Cruz he considered him an ally, not an enemy, and that he believed they could work together when Trump was president.”
"Describing a meeting meant to get Cruz’s support before the convention in Cleveland in July, Manafort writes that the senator said he would work with the man who beat him into second in the primary but would not formally endorse him, 'because his supporters didn’t want him to,"' with the report adding, "Manafort writes: 'It was a forced justification for someone who is normally very logical. Trump didn’t buy it.'"
According to the report, speaking at the 2016 GOP nominating convention, Cruz skipped making the endorsement which led to booing from the crowd and the Texas senator's wife being whisked away from the hall for her own safety.
The report notes that Trump became infuriated, telling aides, "This is bullshit” before walking away to the back of the convention hall "effectively pulling the attention away from Cruz and undercutting his speech," with the Guardian report adding, "Cruz then got the message that there was a technical issue – a legitimate glitch – and the volume went out on his speech" -- although a review by the Guardian of footage from the speech showed no such problem.
Manafort wrote Cruz -- who was accused of "double-dealing" -- was "...very upset. It took months to bring that relationship back. But eventually, Cruz came around to supporting Trump, and Trump harboured no ill will.”
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