On “Fox News Sunday,” after host Chris Wallace repeatedly confronted Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on his campaigns tactics the interview got very contentious.
Partial transcript as follows:
WALLACE: Senator, I’ve got one more question for you. Your campaign has been involved in a series of incidents that are people are calling dirty tricks. I want to put up a list to them. In Iowa, the Cruz campaign sent out tweets saying Ben Carson was suspending his campaign. That was false. The campaign put out flyers accusing people of voting violations. That was false. In South Carolina, a Cruz super PAC attacked Trump over the Confederate flag and your then communications director posted a link this week accusing Rubio of disrespecting the bible. That was false. Question, do you take personal responsibility — this is your campaign except for the super PAC — do you take personal responsibility for this series of incidents? What does it say about the culture of the campaign you’re running?
CRUZ: Chris, every accusation you raised there is incorrect. I appreciate your reading the Donald Trump attack file on that.
WALLACE: Come on, sir.
(CROSSTALK)
WALLACE: Wait a minute. Wait a minute, sir. You personally — you personally apologized to Ben Carson on a debate stage.
CRUZ: Chris, please don’t interrupt me.
WALLACE: You fired your communications director.
CRUZ: Chris, please don’t interrupt me.
WALLACE: Don’t say this is an oppo file on our part, sir.
CRUZ: Chris, please don’t interrupt me. Our campaign from the beginning —
WALLACE: Well, I mean, please don’t say — please accuse me of something I didn’t do.
CRUZ: Go ahead, Chris. Let me know whether I’m allowed to answer.
WALLACE: Well, don’t accuse me of something I didn’t do. Two of those things you apologized for one and fired your communications director. Don’t say this is the oppo file.
CRUZ: Chris, our campaign from the beginning has been the highest level of integrity when others have engaged in personal attacks and insults. We don’t respond in kind. And, you know, what’s striking, you just had Donald Trump on the air. You didn’t ask about the fact that he sent out a fabricated quote from Tom Coburn impugning my integrity. Tom Coburn, Senator Coburn came out and said it was an utter fabrication and yet Donald continued repeating what he knew to be false. You didn’t ask Donald Trump about the robocalls that went out from a white supremacist group supporting Donald Trump telling people do not vote for a Cuban, vote for Donald Trump. You know, when it comes to telling the truth and not telling the truth, you didn’t ask Donald Trump about the fact that in the last debate I asked him true or false, you support socialized medicine, the government paying for your health care. He said false and it’s directly contrary to what he said for 20 years on the record.
Listen, Chris, the facts matter. I understand that —
WALLACE: Senator —
CRUZ: — there are folks that don’t want to focus on the facts. But, listen, the voters care about the truth. They care about Donald Trump’s record of giving —
WALLACE: Senator Cruz, we’re flat out of time. First of all, I don’t think anybody is going to think I did an easy interview with Donald Trump. I asked him about plenty of things. If you want to ask him those questions, guess what? You’ll get the opportunity at the FOX debate on Thursday. Thank you. Thanks for making time for us on this very busy weekend, sir.
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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