Donald Trump: Ted Cruz ‘stole’ Iowa, calls for new election

Trump, who congratulated Cruz on Monday night after the Texas senator was declared the Iowa winner, initially tweeted the message, “Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he illegally stole it.”

Trump then deleted the word “illegally” and issued a new message that reiterated the charge.

“Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he stole it,” Trump wrote. “That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!”

Trump had the lead in the final polls ahead of the caucuses, but Cruz benefited from a sophisticated turnout operation that helped drive evangelical voters to the polls, and late-deciding voters broke in greater numbers to Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio. In the final official results, Cruz was at 27.6 percent, Trump was at 24.3 percent, and Rubio was at 23.1 percent.

In a series of tweets, Trump made a number of charges of fraud. The first concerned the news that the Cruz campaign passed along a CNN report that Ben Carson was taking a break from campaigning, and played it up like he was quitting the race in order to encourage people to vote for Cruz. Cruz later apologized for that message and called it a mistake.

Trump also charged that Cruz put out controversial “get out the vote” mailers that looked like official notices of people’s failure to vote.

“During primetime of the Iowa Caucus, Cruz put out a release that @RealBenCarson was quitting the race, and to caucus (or vote), for Cruz,” Trump tweeted. “Many people voted for Cruz over Carson because of this Cruz fraud. Also, Cruz sent out a VOTER VIOLATION certificate to thousands of voters.”

He went on, “The Voter Violation certificate gave poor marks to the unsuspecting voter (grade of F) and told them to clear it up by voting for Cruz. Fraud”

Trump also wrote, “And finally, Cruz strongly told thousands of caucusgoers (voters) that Trump was strongly in favor of ObamaCare and “choice” — a total lie!

Cruz had highlighted that at various times, Trump had praised single-payer healthcare systems and had said he was pro-choice, though during the campaign Trump has claimed he wants to end Obamacare and is running as a pro-lifer.

Trump also demanded, “Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place of Cruz results nullified.”

Trump’s latest Twitter rant comes just hours after he told voters in New Hampshire he felt “just a tinge” of disappointment about finishing second in Iowa. While declining to say whether Cruz had engaged in “dirty politics,” Trump told reporters Tuesday that the Cruz campaign’s memo to staffers about Carson dropping out was a “total disgrace.”

In response, Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler said, “Reality just hit the reality star – he lost Iowa and now nobody is talking about him, so he’s popping off on Twitter. There are support groups for Twitter addiction, perhaps he should find his local chapter.”