Trump hits Cruz mailers as ‘dishonest,’ ‘deceptive’

GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump early Sunday weighed in on controversial get-out-the-vote mailers sent by rival Ted Cruz, calling them “dishonest and deceptive.”

The Cruz campaign issued a dishonest and deceptive get out the vote ad calling voters “in violation.” They are now under investigation. Bad!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2016

{mosads}The Texas senator’s campaign distributed “report cards,” marked with the words “voting violation” in a large red box, purporting to grade Iowa residents and their neighbors on their participation in past caucuses.

Iowa’s secretary of state on Saturday rebuked Cruz, saying the literature “misrepresents” the role of his office and Iowa election law. 

“Accusing citizens of Iowa of a ‘voting violation’ based on Iowa Caucus participation, or lack thereof, is false representation of an official act,” Pate continued in the statement. “There is no such thing as an election violation related to frequency of voting.

“Any institution or statement to the contrary is wrong and I believe is not in keeping in the spirit of the Iowa Caucuses,” he added.

Cruz told defended the tactic Saturday evening, according to The Associated Press, telling reporters that the mailing is “routine.”

Rand Paul, a fellow GOP presidential candidate, late Saturday hit Cruz over the mailers, calling them an example of hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy is @TedCruz shaming #Iowacaucus goers for missing votes after missing #AudittheFed https://t.co/c2oqutrNzh pic.twitter.com/ubdO7AhShb

— Dr. Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 30, 2016