Ted Cruz’s campaign said Donald Trump is running on “cheap tabloid garbage” after the Republican frontrunner mused that Cruz’s father was somehow linked to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
On Tuesday, Trump claimed that Rafael Cruz was with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before Kennedy’s assassination, a story that originated with the National Enquirer tabloid.
“His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald’s being — you know, shot. I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous,” Trump said on a phone interview with Fox News. “What is this, right prior to his being shot, and nobody even brings it up. They don’t even talk about that. That was reported, and nobody talks about it. … What was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before the death? Before the shooting? It’s horrible.”
Trump’s tale comes from a National Enquirer story that ran last month, purporting to show photos of Rafael Cruz with Lee Harvey Oswald. At the time, the Cruz campaign denied the images were of Rafael, and Tuesday the Texas senator’s team hit back at the GOP frontrunner with a new statement.
“Trump is detached from reality, and his false, cheap, meaningless comments every day indicate his desperation to get attention and willingness to say anything to do so,” Cruz spokesperson Catherine Frazier said, Fox News reports. “We are campaigning on jobs freedom and security while Trump campaigns on false tabloid garbage. And the media is willfully enabling him to cheapen the value of our democratic process.”
This article was originally published on Time.com.