Likely Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday defended floating a connection between Sen. Ted Cruz’s father, Rafael, and JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, saying he was simply passing along a story and noted that the National Enquirer has “brought many things to light.”
“All I was doing [was] referring to a picture that was reported in a magazine, and I think they didn’t deny it. I don’t think anybody denied it,” Mr. Trump said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“I don’t know what it was exactly, but it was a major story [in] a major publication, and it was picked up by many other publications,” he said.
Speaking on “Fox and Friends” Tuesday, Mr. Trump had said of Mr. Cruz, his former 2016 GOP rival: “His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald’s being, you know, shot.”
“They don’t even talk about that, and that was reported and nobody talks about it,” Mr. Trump said Tuesday. “What was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before the death, before the shooting?”
The National Enquirer recently published a photo that the tabloid said was of Rafael Cruz and Oswald, who killed then-President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
The Cruz campaign has repeatedly denied the story, and Mr. Cruz said Tuesday the allegation was “nuts.”
“This is not a reasonable position. This is just kooky,” the Texas senator said.
But Mr. Trump defended the publication on Wednesday.
“The National Enquirer gave you John Edwards, it gave you O.J. Simpson, it gave you many, many things,” he said. “You can’t knock the National Enquirer. It’s brought many things to light — not all of them pleasant.”
“The fact is that it was a cover story on the National Enquirer, it was picked up by many other people and magazines and periodicals and newspapers, and all I did was refer to it,” he said.
“I’m just referring to an article that appeared. I mean, it has nothing to do with me,” Mr. Trump said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.