Trump To Cruz: Be Careful 'Or I Will Spill The Beans On Your Wife!'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is threatening to "spill the beans" on Sen. Ted Cruz's wife after an anti-Trump super PAC ran an ad using a naked photo of the billionaire's wife Melania Trump.
Trump tweeted, then deleted, then tweeted again his comment toward the Texas senator.
.@realDonaldTrump tweets, then quickly deleted tweet threatening to "spill the beans" about @tedcruz's wife pic.twitter.com/k0S8ScZ3BF
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) March 23, 2016
"Lyin' Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad. Be careful, Lyin' Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife!" Trump said.
Cruz shot back on Twitter, "Pic of your wife not from us. Donald, if you try to attack Heidi, you're more of a coward than I thought. #classless"
Pic of your wife not from us. Donald, if you try to attack Heidi, you're more of a coward than I thought. #classless https://t.co/0QpKSnjgnE
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 23, 2016
The tweet storm stems from a Facebook ad launched by Make America Awesome, an anti-Trump super PAC founded by Republican strategist Liz Mair. The ad uses a photo where Melania Trump posed nude for British GQ magazine in 2000.
"Meet Melania Trump, your next first lady. Or, you could support Ted Cruz on Tuesday," the ad said.
Vox reports the ad targeted Mormons ahead of Utah's Republican presidential primary on Tuesday.
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Mair told Vox the ad was not "slut-shaming" the former model.
"The fact is, the image in the ad – for which Melania Trump apparently willingly posed and has long been widely available online – isn't objectionable because she's nude or because it implies she's 'promiscuous.' (which, by the way, it doesn't, though it does suggest she may have bigger hands than Donald)," Mair said in an email to Vox. "It's objectionable because in typical porn/porn-lite fashion, it features her handcuffed to a briefcase, looking vulnerable and sends an implicit message of female subservience, as a lot of photos of tethered, naked women produced for male titillation and consumption do. And Mormon women don't much like that."
Heading into Tuesday's Republican primaries in Arizona and Utah, Trump leads his Republican rivals with 677 delegates. Cruz is second at 407.