While disavowing Donald Trump’s involvement in the National Enquirer story, campaign manager Corey Lewandowski appeared to admit Tuesday that Ted Cruz’s campaign had no involvement in the Melania Trump Facebook ad.
This comes after nearly two weeks of accusations from Trump himself that the Texas senator was directly involved.
“To be clear, Roger Stone is someone who does not work for the campaign, was a consultant to the campaign up until August of last year … I’ve had no communication with Roger Stone since August of last year and I don’t think the campaign has either,” Lewandowski said in a radio interview.
“For the Cruz campaign to equate that Roger Sone is part of this campaign is akin to us saying that the super PAC that put out the pictures of Melania Trump is part of their campaign. Now they can deny that, and they can say they have no communication, but the two are exactly equal.
“I have no control over what Roger Stone does, doesn’t work for the campaign. He’s an independent individual who has no relationship with the campaign in any way, shape or form,” said Lewandowski. “For them to intimate otherwise is completely inaccurate and it’s a narrative that they want to continue to perpetuate. But the bottom line is Roger Stone is as much tied to this campaign as the super PAC that leaked that is tied to the Cruz campaign.”
The clip was first flagged by BuzzFeed News.
The picture of Trump’s wife, which was shot for GQ Magazine, first emerged in the days leading up to the Utah caucuses when the anti-Trump Make America Awesome super PAC used the picture in a Facebook ad. Trump responded almost instantly, threatening to “spill the beans” about Heidi Cruz, the Texas senator’s wife, before blaming his GOP rival’s campaign for spreading the picture.
Cruz vehemently denied the charge despite Trump’s repeated claims, which Trump continued during Tuesday’s CNN town hall. Trump told host Anderson Cooper that “everybody knows” Cruz sent it out.
“No, everybody knows he sent it out,” Trump told Cooper. “He knew the people in the super PAC. He knew — I would be willing to bet he wrote the phrase [on the ad].”
