Trump: Cruz 'Illegally Stole' Iowa Victory

He's now demanding the results be nullified
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 3, 2016 10:04 AM CST
Trump: Cruz 'Illegally Stole' Iowa Victory
Donald Trump speaks Feb. 2, 2016, in Manchester, N.H.   (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Donald Trump's concession speech after his Iowa defeat seemed a bit out of character, but fear not: The billionaire was back to his usual self on Wednesday, alleging in a tweet that "Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa, he illegally stole it." The tweet was quickly deleted and replaced with an identical message omitting the word "illegally." Trump went on to chastise the Cruz campaign for suggesting to caucus-goers that Ben Carson was quitting the race in the hope that Carson's votes would fall to Cruz, reports Time. "Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified," Trump said. At a rally in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Trump said Cruz was "dirty" and the whole situation was "a disgrace," reports the Hill.

Cruz apologized to Carson on Tuesday for what he deemed a "mistake," the Hill reports. CNN initially reported that Carson would return to Florida after the Monday caucuses and a Cruz staffer in Iowa emailed precinct captains suggesting Carson was about to drop out. "Please inform any Carson caucus goers of this news and urge them to caucus for Ted Cruz," the staffer wrote. "When our political team saw the CNN post saying that Dr. Carson was not carrying on to New Hampshire and South Carolina, our campaign updated grassroots leaders just as we would with any breaking news story," Cruz clarified. "That's fair game." His campaign's only wrong step was failing to share "a follow-up statement from the Carson campaign clarifying that he was indeed staying in the race." (More Donald Trump stories.)

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