Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) on Thursday slammed Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) presidential campaign for disseminating reports that Ben Carson was planning to drop out of the race during the Iowa caucuses.
“Cruz did some questionable things,” Branstad told Radio Iowa. “This thing that they distributed on caucus night saying that Dr. Carson was likely to drop out and his supporters should support Cruz, that is, I think, unethical and unfair and I think there’ll be repercussions to that.”
“We have a strong sense of fairness in Iowa,” Branstad added. “Distributing information that was not true about a candidate right at the time people are voting in the caucuses is an inappropriate thing.”
The governor also noted that Iowa state Rep. Rob Taylor (R), the Carson campaign’s Iowa co-chair, was “very upset” by the Cruz campaign’s actions. Branstad said that Taylor suggested he may consider an “ethical investigation.”
Cruz has apologized to Carson following the reports that his campaign spread rumors that Carson was set to suspend his campaign. But Carson, along with Donald Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), has continued to criticize the Cruz campaign’s “dirty tricks.”
Branstad himself is not a fan of Cruz. The governor said last month that he hoped the Texas senator would lose the Iowa caucus, noting Cruz’s opposition to the Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires gasoline to be mixed with renewable fuels like ethanol.
H/t The Hill
