(CNN)– Republican front-runner Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Rafael Cruz, the father of Sen. Ted Cruz, calling him “disgraceful” after he urged evangelical voters in Indiana to reject his son’s rival.
Trump responded to Rafael Cruz’s sharp remarks to Indiana evangelicals, during which Cruz said the alternative to his son for president “could be the destruction of America,” in an interview on “Fox and Friends.”
“I think that it’s a disgrace he’s allowed to do it, I think it’s a disgrace he’s allowed to say it,” Trump said after hearing Cruz’s comments.
“You know I’m backed by — you look at Jerry Falwell Jr., you look at so many of the ministers that are backing me,” Trump said. “They’re backing me more so than they’re backing Cruz. And I’m winning the evangelical vote. And it’s disgraceful that his father can go out and do that.”
Trump also referenced a report from the tabloid National Enquirer — without naming the publication — which alleged that it had identified Rafael Cruz in a photo with Lee Harvey Oswald months prior to the JFK assassination. CNN has not independently confirmed that report.
“And (Ted Cruz’s) father, you know, was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald’s, you know, being shot. I mean the whole thing is ridiculous,” Trump said. “I mean what was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald, shortly before the death? Before the shooting? It’s horrible.”
The publication — which endorsed Trump — has also run recent stories making various allegations about the billionaire businessman that have not been confirmed by CNN or other publications.
The Cruz campaign responded to Trump by calling him “detached from reality.”
“His false, cheap, meaningless comments every day indicate his desperation to get attention and willingness to say anything to do so,” said Catherine Frazier, Cruz’s campaign spokeswoman in a statement. “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.”
Trump then shifted his sights to his likely general election foe, Hillary Clinton. He criticized her for suggesting a role for Bill Clinton in her potential administration, pointing to the former president’s scandals in the 1990s and attacking his economic legacy.
“All I say is, here we go again,” he said. “It was a mess, and you know a lot of people don’t remember, he signed one of the worst economic deals — probably the worst in the history of this country. And it’s called NAFTA.”
Trump is leading polls in Indiana as voting Tuesday gets underway.
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