PHILADELPHIA — RNC Chairman Reince Priebus on Sunday said that Donald Trump wasn't claiming to be passing on "factual information" when he linked Sen. Ted Cruz's dad to President Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald a day after accepting the Republican presidential nomination.

"He's got a right to talk about whatever he wants to talk about, however, I don't think he was ever saying this was some sort of factual information," Priebus said at a press conference on the eve of the Democratic National Convention. "It was something he referred to. He's talked about it, he's gotten off from it. As far as I'm concerned, we can move on from it."

In May, Trump first attempted to link Cruz's father to JFK's assassin, and he reiterated it again on Friday, following the uproar over Cruz's decision not to endorse Trump in his Wednesday convention speech.

"I think he mentioned it in passing and everybody glommed onto it and it became a controversy, but I think as far as the overall picture of Donald Trump —" Priebus said, "I mean, that is one rhetorical issue that you can all debate until the cows come home, but it doesn't identify the Donald Trump campaign."

Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort pointed the finger at Cruz himself for reviving the controversy. "It was raised by Sen. Cruz on Friday morning after the convention, it wasn't raised by Mr. Trump," he said. "Certainly, Sen. Cruz's behavior at the convention on Wednesday was disappointing, and he was commenting on Sen. Cruz's comments."