Two days after losing the Iowa race to friend-turned-foe Ted Cruz, Donald Trump has accused the Texas Senator of “stealing” the caucuses and demanded that a new election be held or Monday’s results be nullified.
“Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he stole it. That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated,” Trump charged in a series of tweets on Wednesday and followed it up at a big campaign rally in little Rock, Arkansas later in the day.
Cruz, according to Trump, put out a release during primetime of the Iowa caucuses that fellow-Republican Ben Carson was quitting the presidential race and solicited the Carson votes for himself.
“Many people voted for Cruz over Carson because of this Cruz fraud, Trump asserted, adding in another tweet: “Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified.”
Cruz fired back at the New York billionaire, dismissing the allegations yet another temper tantrum, or “Trumpertantrum” as he put it. “Donald Trump very angry w/the people of Iowa. They actually looked at his record,” Cruz taunted in a counter-tweet.
“Reality hit the reality TV star in Iowa, so nobody is talking about him now, so
he’s trying to regain some attention on Twitter,” Cruz communications director Rick Tyler told CNN.
As for the claim of Carson dropping out, Cruz said his political team simply passed on a CNN news story to his supporters that was subsequently contradicted by the Carson campaign. Cruz said he has apologised to Carson for his team not passing on the clarification.
Clinton sought to hit back, saying she was “amused today that Senator Sanders has set himself up to be the gatekeeper on who’s a progressive”, adding: “I know where I stand. I know who stands with me. I know what I’ve done.”
A report in The Washington Post on Thursday said that while Clinton may have stepped up her “rhetorical assault” on Wall Street, her campaign and allied super PACs have raked in at least $21.4 million from donors at hedge funds, banks, insurance companies and other financial services firms – out of a total of $157.8 million raised for her presidential bid thus far.