Trump threatens to 'spill the beans' on Cruz's wife amid challenge to debate on 'O'Reilly Factor'

Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) clashed on Tuesday as the legislator asked his Republican rival to debate on Fox News' O'Reilly Factor while Trump threatened Cruz online.

"Lyin' Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad," Trump posted on Twitter. "Be careful, Lyin' Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife!"

The post can be seen below:

As The Blaze reported, Trump actually posted the threat twice; the original version included Cruz's Twitter address.

Trump's remarks also accused the Tea Party senator of being behind an ad released by a super PAC on Monday mocking Melania Trump for posing nude for GQ magazine in 2000.

"It's objectionable because in typical porn/porn-lite fashion, it features her handcuffed to a briefcase, looking vulnerable and sends an implicit message of female subservience, as a lot of photos of tethered, naked women produced for male titillation and consumption do," said the group's founder, GOP strategist Liz Mair, who has criticized Trump in the past.

According to The Hill, the senator not only criticized Trump during an appearance on Bill O'Reilly's program on Tuesday, but called on the Fox News host to moderate a debate between the two.

"You put me in a difficult position, because I'm not going to defend Trump," O'Reilly said.

"Why don't you ask Donald Trump to come here and defend himself?" Cruz replied. "Donald is afraid to debate. I would love to debate him. Bill, you can moderate; he wouldn't argue that you're an unfair moderator."

"Yes, he would," O'Reilly replied.

Update, 10:23 p.m. EST: Cruz responded on Twitter by noting that his campaign did not produce the image that angered Trump, adding, "If you try to attack Heidi, you're more of a coward than I thought." The post can be seen below:

Watch the interview, as posted online on Tuesday, below.