Kaitlan Collins Grills Ted Cruz Over Trump Support Despite Attacks Against Family: ‘Targeted Not Just Your Dad, but Also Your Wife’
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) defended his decision to support former President Donald Trump on Wednesday after CNN host Kaitlan Collins pressed him about Trump’s attacks against his family in 2016.
Questioned about the Trump campaign’s involvement with the National Enquirer in creating negative stories about Cruz and his family in 2016, the senator replied:
It was a rough and tumble race. I will say, Donald Trump and I have a different relationship than most people in Washington because in 2016 I fought him repeatedly. I beat him over and over and over again in twelve states, but he ultimately prevailed. He beat me. And you know, when he became president, I had a choice to make. I could be pissed, I could be pissed off at what he’d done, but if I was gonna do that, he’d just been elected president, and I’ve got a job. I’ve got a job to represent 30 million Texans, and frankly if I was gonna let my hurt feelings make me say, “I’m not gonna work with you,” I needed to be prepared to resign my job and go home, and I made a decision then.
Cruz recalled, “I got on a plane. I flew to Trump Tower, I sat down with him.”
Collins pointed out, “They targeted not just your dad but also your wife. I think a lot of people sitting at home would say, well, that’s pretty cynical. I mean, this is someone who attacked your own members of your family, and what we learned from this testimony is not only did Donald Trump know about it, he coordinated it.”
“Look, I understand, but I knew then it was lies,” replied Cruz. “And at the end of the day, I’m a big boy, and as I said, I could have made a choice. Listen, if I were a private citizen, I could decide my feelings are hurt, and I’m just gonna leave. But if I do that, I can’t do my job, and I care about my job.”
After Collins pressed, “But do you think of the tactics that he used to get where he was?” Cruz declared, “I don’t like them. I can’t stand them.”
He concluded, “I think Donald Trump is a unique character in American history. There are things he says and does that I like; there are things he says and does that I don’t like.”
Watch above via CNN.
