Donald Trump just accused Ted Cruz of stealing the Iowa caucuses over the Cruz campaign’s admission that it helped spread a rumor that Ben Carson was dropping out of the race:
Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa, he stole it. That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016
During primetime of the Iowa Caucus, Cruz put out a release that @RealBenCarson was quitting the race, and to caucus (or vote) for Cruz.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016
The thought here is that Carson votes went to Cruz after the rumor was started and that it only took a small number of voters per caucus site to give Cruz the win.
https://twitter.com/RogerJStoneJr/status/694698739626328064
CNN had reported that Carson was taking a break from the campaign before the caucus even started, which is where Cruz’s campaign allegedly first heard the story (note the countdown clock at the bottom-left):
After the #IAcaucus, @RealBenCarson plans to take a break from campaigning https://t.co/hTJA5XI7NN https://t.co/GqExX4ujv2
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) February 2, 2016
Cruz went on to apologize to Carson over spreading the rumor:
First on CNN: Ted Cruz apologizes to Ben Carson https://t.co/SrD9hPL5qc — with @mj_lee
— Betsy Klein (@betsy_klein) February 2, 2016
Trump also hit Cruz over the controversial mailer designed to “shame” voters into caucusing:
Many people voted for Cruz over Carson because of this Cruz fraud. Also, Cruz sent out a VOTER VIOLATION certificate to thousands of voters.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016
The Voter Violation certificate gave poor marks to the unsuspecting voter(grade of F) and told them to clear it up by voting for Cruz. Fraud
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016
Our coverage of the mailer story:
Daughter claims Ted Cruz’s vote shaming mailer gave her dead mother an ‘F’
Disabled woman who can’t caucus this year calls Ted Cruz a ‘bully’ after getting named on his mailer
Ted Cruz says he’ll use every tool he can, including controversial ‘vote shaming’ mailer
Update. Trump added another tweet after we published the post:
And finally, Cruz strongly told thousands of caucusgoers (voters) that Trump was strongly in favor of ObamaCare and "choice" – a total lie!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016
Update 2. Oh boy:
Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016
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