Trump Strikes Again At Cruz Over 'New York Values' Remark
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Republican front-runner Donald Trump is keeping up his attack of rival Ted Cruz, calling his conduct at the Republican debate "strident'' and labeling his remarks about "New York values'' in the GOP debate "disgraceful.''
Appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe Friday, Trump said the Texas senator "hurt himself'' at Thursday night's debate when he said that "everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro- gay-marriage, focus around money and the media.''
"He's a good debater, but he's very strident, and a lot of people are not going to like that,'' Trump said.
For a while, Trump and Cruz were civil to each other, but they are no longer holding back when it comes to criticizing each other.
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In Thursday night's debate, Cruz also said that "not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan."
But Trump defended his home state and pointed out there are conservatives in Manhattan, CBS2's Andrea Grymes reported.
The billionaire real-estate mogul also said he found that kind of talk "insulting'' and talked about how New Yorkers had come together after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"Everybody in the world watched and everyone in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. --- That was a very insulting statement that Ted made.''
That was not the only heated exchange between the two candidates.The moderators asked about Trump's recent questioning if Cruz can legally run for president since he was born in Canada to an American mother.
Cruz said he can.
"You have a big lawsuit hanging over your head," Trump said.
"I'm not gonna be taking legal advice from Donald Trump," Cruz replied.
The rest of the debate touched on everything from the economy to ISIS to the current administration, with the debate coming just a few days after the President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.
"On Tuesday night, I heard story time with Barack Obama and I gotta tell you, it sounded like everything is going amazing," said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio refused to condemn an ad from a super PAC supporting him that portrays Christie as similar to Obama. Rubio said Christie "endorsed many of the ideas'' that the president supports.
Christie strongly disagreed and then resuscitated a line that Rubio himself used in a past debate. Rubio had said it seemed as if a strategist had persuaded Jeb Bush, not a natural fighter, to harshly attack his fellow Floridian.
"Well, it appears that the same someone has been whispering in old Marco's ear, too,'' Christie said.
Christie also said that while two years ago Rubio called him a "conservative reformer,'' he is now misrepresenting his record.
"When you're a senator what you get to do is talk and talk and talk and no one can keep up to see if what you're saying is accurate or not,'' Christie said.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was mentioned often by all the candidates, and the attacks were often in the form of one-liners.
"She's under investigation with the FBI right now,'' Bush said, adding that the country should avoid a situation with a president who "might be going back and forth between the White House and the courthouse.''
Rubio was much more serious when he said Clinton is "disqualified from being president of the United States'' because she "mishandled'' intelligence, a reference to her use of a personal email account and server rather than a government account while at the State Department.
He also accused her of telling "lies'' to the families of victims in the attack on the U.S. outpost in Benghazi.
Separately, Christie warned, "If you're worried about world being on fire, you cannot give Hillary Clinton a third term of Barack Obama's leadership.''
The three Democratic presidential contenders meet Sunday night in Charleston for their next debate.
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