Republican frontrunner Donald Trump told told a packed-to-the-rafters rally in Fort Wayne, Indiana on Saunday afternoon that his rival, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), would face questions about his eligibility under the Constitution.
“His wife just said, ‘My husband is an immigrant,” Trump told the crowd, referring to remarks made by Heidi Cruz on Saturday, as she attempted to argue that her husband would best be able to unify the Republican Party and appeal to the electorate as a whole.
“And I said, when I heard, ‘That’s what I’ve been saying!” Trump exclaimed, to laughter from the crowd.
“But we don’t want to get her in trouble, so let’s not use that,” he added, going on to predict that Cruz would face legal challenges in the event he became the Republican Party’s nominee. Cruz “won’t be allowed to run,” Trump said.
Cruz was born in Canada, but his mother was a U.S. citizen, likely making him a “natural-born citizen” for the purposes of eligibility for the White House. His family moved to the U.S. when he was a small child.
Early in the campaign, Trump had said his legal advisers had assured him that Cruz was eligible, but he said the opposite on Sunday.
(The Cruz campaign later explained that Heidi Cruz had misspoken on Saturday, and had meant to say — as she has on other occasions — that her husband is the son of immigrants.)
In his speech, Trump also argued that his rivals, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, “have no path” to victory.
He reserved most of his attacks for Cruz, whom he mocked for choosing his running mate, Carly Fiorina, when he had not won the party’s nomination. It was “the first time in American history” that had happened, Trump said.
Along with his customary jabs at the mainstream media — whom he said would never report the size of his “record” crowd — Trump also aimed at likely Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton.
“Hillary is totally bought off,” he said. ” … She is crooked Hillary … She doesn’t have the strength, or the energy, to make America great again.”
He reserved a jab for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who had criticized Trump’s foreign policy on the Sunday morning talk shows. “I will not call Lindsey Graham stupid,” he said, noting that Graham often said he had been “fighting for so many years.”
Trump quipped: “They’re the wrong idea, folks. That’s why he’s been fighting for so many years.”
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new e-book, Leadership Secrets of the Kings and Prophets: What the Bible’s Struggles Teach Us About Today, is on sale through Amazon Kindle Direct. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.