CLEVELAND — Jeff Roe, the former campaign manager for Sen. Ted Cruz, took aim at New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday morning after Christie criticized Cruz for not endorsing Donald Trump.
Appearing on 1210 WPHT in Philadelphia, Roe told host Chris Stigall that the New Jersey governor “turned over his political testicles long ago” with his endorsement and effusive praise of Trump ahead of Super Tuesday. Roe was responding to Christie, who called Cruz’s 20 minute speech “awful” and “selfish.”
“That guy turned over his political testicles long ago,” Roe told the host. “So I don’t take what he has to say with any meaning. You know, he embarrassed himself pretty quickly in this.”
Christie was one of the first to react to the Texas senator, saying that there is a reason why Cruz is despised by many in Washington and on Capitol Hill.
“I think it was awful. And quite frankly I think it was selfish,” Christie told NBC. “He signed a pledge, and it’s his job to keep his word. Donald Trump gave him the opportunity to speak here at this convention tonight. I think it was too cute, and I think you saw by the end of the speech, that the crowd was waiting for him to do the right thing and realized that once again he wasn’t going to do it.
“And I think the performance you saw up there is why Ted has so, so richly deserved the reputation that he has developed on Capitol Hill.”
Roe confirmed that they sent Trump the speech about two hours before Cruz delivered his speech and went on to defend the address, saying it went further in backing the nominee than others have in recent years.
“Let’s just go through history here and time. Ted didn’t sign a pledge,” Roe said. “He didn’t sign a pledge to support a nominee by convention. You know, this speech went further than Ronald Reagan went on Gerald Ford. It went further than Kennedy did for Carter.”
The campaign chief also pushed back against any idea that this is a move with an eye toward 2020, saying that the right move in that case would be to endorse Trump.
