Former President Donald Trump apologized to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for insulting his wife and father during the 2016 GOP presidential primaries, according to a new book by former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.
Trump apologized to Cruz and his family in person, an unusual act for the former president who has a reputation for refusing to apologize, Manafort said. Trump had insinuated that Cruz’s wife Heidi Cruz was ugly, attached Cruz’s father to the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy, and questioned whether Cruz could be the next president if he was born in Canada.
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“On his own initiative, Trump did apologize for saying some of the things he said about Cruz, which was unusual for Trump,” Manafort said in the book, according to the Guardian.
The exchanges on the campaign trail grew heated during the primary contest, with Cruz calling Trump a “sniveling coward.” However, Trump apologized during an exchange at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July 2016 in which Cruz said he would work with Trump if he won but could not endorse him, according to the book.
“[Trump] told Cruz he considered him an ally, not an enemy, and that he believed they could work together when Trump was president,” Manafort said.
The senator did support Trump as the Republican nominee for president in September 2016, saying Trump would make a better president than Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton despite claiming the former president never walked back his statements.
“If Hillary Clinton is elected, the court will be lost for a generation, and my daughters’ rights will be lost for a generation,” Cruz said.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to Cruz for comment.
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Manafort also denied any collusion with Russia, admitted to advising Trump while under house arrest, and remained loyal to the former president despite being convicted on tax charges, he wrote in the memoir, titled Political Prisoner: Persecuted, Prosecuted, but Not Silenced. Trump pardoned Manafort before he left office.
Manafort’s book will be released next month.
