Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump late Wednesday declined to attack rival Ted Cruz in the wake of news that the Texas senator misreported campaign finances, but he did acknowledge that it was a “very big thing.”
{mosads}“Well, I heard it’s a big thing. I know nothing about it. But I hear it’s a very big thing,” Trump said in an interview on Bloomberg News’s “With All Due Respect.” “I hope he solves it. I think he’s a nice guy and I hope he gets it solved.”
The New York Times reported Wednesday evening that Cruz did not disclose a loan from Goldman Sachs, where his wife works, to his 2012 Senate campaign.
Trump has previously attacked GOP primary rivals for being beholden by big donors, flaunting his personal wealth as an aegis against the corrupting influence of money in politics.
The billionaire businessman also responded to a Cruz attack that he “embodies New York values.”
“When you want to knock New York, you’ve got to go through me,” Trump said. “New York is an amazing place with amazing people.”
Trump said New York’s resilient spirit was never on greater display than in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“We took a big hit with the World Trade Center — worst thing ever, worst attack ever in the United States, worse than Pearl Harbor because they attacked civilians, they attacked people having breakfast,” Trump said.
“And, frankly, if you would’ve been there and if you would’ve lived through that like I did with New York people, the way they handled that attack was one of the most incredible things that anybody has ever seen,” he added.
Trump also said that he and Cruz have a similarly “strong temperaments.”
“Honestly, I don’t know. He’s had a very nice temperament,” he said of Cruz. “He has a lot of problems with a lot of people. I can say there’s a lot of people that probably don’t like him.”
“They don’t want to be called, you know, liars on the Senate floor and, frankly, it’s pretty tough stuff. But at the same time, he’s very upset like I am.”