Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign said the arrest of Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski shows a pattern of abusive behavior by the front-runner’s campaign.
Lewandowski was arrested following a physical altercation with then-Breitbart writer Michelle Fields in Florida.
“Unfortunately, this abusive behavior seems to be part of the culture of the Trump campaign,” said Alice Stewart, Cruz campaign spokeswoman, in an email. “Personal attacks, verbal attacks, and now physical attacks have no place in politics or anywhere else in our society.”
Soon afteward, Cruz said much the same thing in brief remarks to reporters in Wisconsin.
“When you have a campaign that is built on personal insults, on attacks, and now physical violence, that has no place in a political campaign,” Cruz said. “It has no place in our democracy and I think it is a really unfortunate development, but I do think it helps clarify for the voters what the Trump campaign is all about.”
Earlier this month, Cruz responded to the Trump campaign altercations by condemning Lewandowski’s actions.
“Physically assaulting a reporter is a fireable offense,” Cruz said at the time. “And at the end of the day, the responsibility for any campaign rests with the candidate.”
Cruz and Trump were scheduled to appear in consecutive town halls on Tuesday night from Wisconsin broadcast by CNN.
