Donald Trump on Wednesday morning would not apologize for referencing a National Enquirer story alleging that Rafael Cruz, the father of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), was seen with Lee Harvey Oswald before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
“All I was doing was referring to a picture that was reported and in a magazine, and I think they didn’t deny it. I don’t think anybody denied it,” Trump said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” when asked if he owed Rafael Cruz an apology. “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.”
Trump then defended the National Enquirer’s credibility.
“The National Enquirer gave you John Edwards. It gave you O.J. Simpson. It gave you many, many things. I mean, you can’t knock the National Enquirer. It’s brought many, many things to light, not all of them pleasant. The fact is that it was a cover story on the National Enquirer,” he said. “All I did was refer to it.”
“Good Morning America” host George Stephanopoulos clarified one last time that Trump was not willing to apologize to the Cruz family.
“I’m just referring to an article that appeared. I mean, it has nothing to do with me,” Trump said in response. “The father was very active in the campaign. He said some very nasty things about me in the morning, you know that, and it was reported. And it wasn’t nice what he said about me. And I just referred him to articles that were in various periodicals.”
Trump originally made his comments about the National Enquirer story when asked to respond to Rafael Cruz’s comments pitching his son and noting that the “alternative could be the destruction of America.”
Watch the clip via ABC:
WATCH: “It gave you John Edwards… O.J. Simpson… You can’t knock National Enquirer.” – Trump on citing the paper https://t.co/LRSPbWMVbn
— Good Morning America (@GMA) May 4, 2016
