Ted Cruz won’t endorse Donald Trump, but the Republican nominee said Friday he wouldn’t take the support even if the Texas senator offered.
“If he gives it, I will not accept it,” Trump said at a news conference in Cleveland at the close of the Republican National Convention.
Trump devoted a significant portion of the event, billed as a thank you to convention staff and organizers, to attacking his former primary rival.
Speaking at the RNC on Wednesday, Cruz declined to endorse Trump, instead urging delegates to vote their “conscience.”
Cruz said that the Trump campaign had seen the speech beforehand, and that he told Trump personally that he would not make an endorsement.
But Trump appeared to contradict that on Friday morning, saying that Cruz went off-script at the convention.
“So Ted Cruz took his speech that was done, was on the Teleprompter, said hello, then made a statement that wasn’t on the speech, then went back to his speech,” Trump said. “See, to me, that’s dishonorable.”
Trump likewise said it was “dishonorable” of Cruz to abandon his pledge to support the Republican nominee.
