Hempstead, N.Y.
“Campaigns are tough,” said Jason Miller, a senior advisor for the Donald Trump campaign. Miller would know—earlier this year, he was a senior advisor for one of Trump’s Republican rivals, Ted Cruz. When the Texas senator was still in the race, Trump amplified a conspiracy theory that the Cruz’s Cuban-born father Rafael Cruz was involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Trump repeated the suggestion the day after the Republican National Convention, offering no evidence.
But for Miller—as well a number of other Trump campaign advisors and surrogates who spoke with me Monday night following the first presidential debate—Trump’s attack on his fellow Republican isn’t an issue.
“A lot of things have been said out on the campaign trail. Mr. Trump hasn’t been shy that he’s a very strong competitor out on the campaign trail,” Miller said. “I think really the fact that Senator Cruz came out and endorsed Mr. Trump I think really says a lot. I think it talks about how the party’s coming together, how it’s united.”
Another senior Trump advisor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, shrugged off the question about Trump’s insinuation regarding Cruz’s father. “I don’t remember,” Sanders said, when asked if Trump has disavowed his attack. “You should ask him.”
As Trump made his way through a large, open space in the spin room at Hofstra University, I shouted my question over a host of reporters and TV cameras, to no avail.
Many of Trump’s surrogates at Hofstra dismissed the question, noting it wasn’t brought up at the debate Monday.
“That wasn’t even up tonight. That’s between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz,” said New York congressman Peter King. “Obviously, if it’s good enough for Ted Cruz, it’s good enough for me.”
Another New York congressman, Chris Collins, concurred. “Ted Cruz did endorse, so I don’t have a comment on that,” said Collins.
Senator David Perdue of Georgia said the issue of Trump disavowing or apologizing for the smear against Cruz’s father it “up to them.” “That’s between Donald and Ted, frankly,” he said. Does Perdue believe there was a connection? “No, but I don’t have any of the evidence at all,” he responded. “But that’s a distraction.”
But Trump was challenged in the debate on one of the other conspiracy theories he’s publicly entertained: the validity of Barack Obama’s citizenship and place of birth. After reiterating his contention from earlier this month that Obama was born in the United States and taking credit for proving that, Trump backed off of the claim he made for years before. But Trump has not repudiated a number of other conspiracy theories he’s discussed before and during his presidential campaign, including: the idea that George W. Bush knowingly lied about the intelligence on Iraq in the build-up to the war there; the idea that vaccines could cause autism; and the Cruz connection to the JFK assassination.
“His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald’s being — you know, shot. I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous,” Trump said back in May. “What is this, right prior to his being shot, and nobody even brings it up. They don’t even talk about that. That was reported, and nobody talks about it.”
Even after the primary race had ended and Trump had accepted the nomination, the New York reality TV star revived the idea that Rafael Cruz had a suspect connection with JFK’s assassin. “I don’t know his father. I met him once. I think he’s a lovely guy,” Trump said. “All I did is point out the fact that on the cover of the National Enquirer there was a picture of him and crazy Lee Harvey Oswald having breakfast.” There is no evidence confirming the Enquirer‘s claim the photo of the man with Oswald is Cruz’s father, which the man himself denies.
The Republican National Committtee’s chief spokesman, Sean Spicer, also said the issue of disavowing the attack on Cruz’s father is “up to him, not me.”
When asked about the smear, Alabama senator Jeff Sessions at first claimed Trump did not make the claim. “Now, he did not say that,” Sessions said. But Trump did suggest the connection between Cruz and Oswald was there and worth investigating.
“Well, he reported, he commented on a newspaper article that said that,” Sessions admitted. “It would have been better left unsaid, I agree with that.”
