New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio praised Donald Trump for his spirited defense of New York after Ted Cruz mocked the billionaire’s “New York values” in the Republican presidential debate last night.
“Trump’s right that we’re part of overcoming the greatest attack that this nation has ever received on our soil,” he said in an interview on CNN.
De Blasio thundered against Cruz, calling him “blatantly hypocritical,” pointing out that the Texas Senator frequently traveled to New York for fundraisers and even took out a loan from a New York bank to fund his Senate campaign.
“Ted Cruz has created a lot of anger, and not only here, but a lot of the people in the country are going to be seeing this as divisive and angry, and he owes the people of New York an apology,” he said. “It’s a horrible message for anyone who pretends to be a leader to talk that way about the largest city, and the greatest city in the country.”
When asked by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer if he believed Cruz was a natural born citizen, de Blasio did not dismiss any birther conspiracy theories surrounding the Texas senator, saying it was a legitimate question.
“Look I think that it’s an issue that legitimately needs to be resolved by the courts once and for all, because I think there is a lot of debate in this country about what the definition is,” De Blasio added.
He falsely accused Cruz of “gleefully stoking” the birther issue against President Obama.
When asked if Donald Trump could win the state of New York, de Blasio said it was “absolutely impossible,” saying that as a former Senator for New York, Hillary Clinton would win the state handily in the presidential race and the general election.