CLEVELAND, OH — In a brief exclusive interview with PJ Media, Iowa Representative Steve King said that Texas Senator Ted Cruz — who declined to endorse Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday 00 will nevertheless “be involved” in the effort to defeat Hillary Clinton.
King also said that if the RNC had been able to hear Cruz’s speech in its entirety, “they would have liked it a lot.”
“I’d read the speech before he delivered it,” King explained. “I think if they coulda heard his speech, they would have liked it a lot.”
A source in the Cruz camp told The Daily Wire that the entirety of Cruz’s speech was approved by Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, who later encouraged delegates on the floor to boo the speech before it concluded.
“This was orchestrated by the Trump campaign to make Senator Cruz a pariah within the party,” the source told The Daily Wire.
King’s remarks seem to confirm this narrative. The Iowa congressman added that Cruz “wrote a speech that was designed to bring it to a quiet, thoughtful close, and he didn’t get to do that. That’s my view on it.”
More importantly, King emphasized that Cruz “will be involved” in the effort to defeat Hillary Clinton.
“We’ll just move on, and we’ll do our best to elect a president and save ourselves from the debacle of Hillary Clinton,” he told PJ Media. “Ted Cruz will be involved in that effort, I know.”
This seems to confirm the substance of Newt Gingrich’s suggestion that Cruz’s “vote your conscience” declaration was meant as subtle support for Donald Trump.
Gingrich argued that the audience had “misunderstood” Cruz on this point. “Ted Cruz said you can vote your conscience for anyone who will uphold the Constitution. In this election, there is only one candidate who will uphold the Constitution.”
When asked if King agreed with Gingrich’s speech, he said yes. When asked if he interpreted Cruz’s declaration this way — “that he was saying vote your conscience and that applies to supporting Trump” — King responded, “Well sure. Sure it does, especially when you think of Hillary.”
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