Subject: NY Times - Ted Cruz Declines to Support Donald Trump, and Muses About Re-entering Race
From: "Paustenbach, Mark" <[email-masked]>
To: Comm_D <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 10 May 2016 11:17:20 -0700

Ted Cruz Declines to Support Donald Trump, and Muses About Re-entering Race<http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/05/10/ted-cruz-declines-to-support-donald-trump-and-muses-about-re-entering-race/>
1:04 PM ET
By Matt Flegenheimer

In his first interview since leaving the Republican presidential race last week, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas on Tuesday declined to throw his support behind Donald J. Trump, suggesting that he and other conservatives had plenty of time to assess their options.

"Well, listen, this is a choice every voter is going to have to make," Mr. Cruz told Glenn Beck, a radio host who endorsed Mr. Cruz<http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/01/23/in-support-of-ted-cruz-glenn-beck-slams-donald-trump/> during his bid. "It is not a choice that we as voters have to make today."
Mr. Cruz also did not entirely rule out re-entering the race "if there is a path to victory," allowing - perhaps half-jokingly - that he would reassess his plans if he were to somehow prevail in Nebraska's Republican primary on Tuesday night.

"Well, I'm not holding my breath," Mr. Cruz said, laughing. "My assumption is that that will not happen."
But, he added, he only left the race last week because after his blowout loss in Indiana, "I didn't see a viable path to victory."

"If that changes," he said, "we will respond accordingly."

He did say that the formation of any third party of like-minded conservatives was not "very likely."
After initially embracing his rival last year as a worthy addition to the Republican field, Mr. Cruz slogged through an often brutal primary fight against Mr. Trump, who by turns insulted Mr. Cruz's wife<http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/03/23/donald-trump-threatens-ted-cruzs-wife-elicting-angry-retort/> and his father<http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/05/03/donald-trump-ted-cruz-father-jfk/>, questioned his eligibility for the presidency and branded him "Lyin' Ted."

Though many former supporters and longtime Trump critics, including former Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, have recently lined up behind Mr. Trump, several members of Mr. Cruz's team have remained sharply critical of the presumptive nominee.

And it is clear that Mr. Cruz plans to pursue a crucial role at the Republican convention<http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/05/09/ted-cruz-backers-seek-to-control-convention-platform/> in Cleveland on July 18-21. In an email sent on Sunday to pro-Cruz convention delegates, a top aide to Mr. Cruz, Ken Cuccinelli, said it was "still possible to advance a conservative agenda" and influence the Republican platform and convention rules. (Mr. Cruz told supporters on a conference call that he planned to attend the convention.)

On Tuesday, Mr. Cruz offered only the faintest of praise for Mr. Trump, spending much of the interview accusing the news media of fueling his rival's rise.

"There's no doubt about the power of celebrity," Mr. Cruz said. "And by any measure, Donald Trump is a phenomenon."

He also called himself "a little old-fashioned" in thinking that Americans should be able to "look up to our president."

Jonathan Martin contributed reporting.

Mark Paustenbach
National Press Secretary &
Deputy Communications Director
Democratic National Committee
W: 202.863.8148
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