Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee painted fellow GOP presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) as an unwelcome guest at a rally for Kentucky clerk Kim Davis Tuesday, admitting that his staffer physically blocked Cruz from getting on stage.
In a Wednesday appearance on NewsMax TV’s “Steve Malzberg Show” first reported by BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski, Huckabee said his campaign planned the event, and he made Cruz’s visit with Davis possible.
“Well, Steve, this was our event. My team put it together. We’re the ones who recruited the people not only to be on the program, but we’re the ones who coordinated the effort. We’re the ones who secured the permits, the staging,” Huckabee told Malzberg. “We had no idea Ted Cruz was going to show up until the day before and he didn’t call us, he called several other people on the program and asked about it.”
While Huckabee said “anybody’s welcome” to attend a free rally, Cruz is “not free to come to an event that we’re putting together and invite himself on the program anymore than I could go a few weeks ago to his event in Des Moines and just show up and expect to be a speaker. It’s real simple.”
Huckabee went on to say he made a jail visit with Davis possible for Cruz, calling the move “pretty gracious.”
Cruz was relegated to the wings during the event, and his planned visit with an incarcerated Davis fizzled. Huckabee took center stage at the rally, not leaving the defiant clerk’s side while on stage.
Watch the full clip over at BuzzFeed.
