Texas Republican Sen. [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore] lobbed his first shot at GOP presidential primary frontrunner Donald Trump Tuesday.
Cruz, who stayed away from conflicts with the brash New York billionaire hit back at Trump over questions about the senator’s eligibility to serve as commander in chief because of his Canadian birthplace.
“I will say it is more than a little strange to see Donald relying on as authoritative a liberal, left-wing, judicial activist Harvard law professor who is a huge Hillary supporter,” Cruz said to a reporter, who asked about Trump referencing Harvard Professor Laurence Tribe who wrote that Cruz might be ineligible to be president.
“It starts to make you think, ‘Gosh, why are some of Hillary’s strongest supporters backing Donald Trump?’”
In the past, when reporters would ask Cruz about jabs Trump would make at him or gaffes Trump would make, the Texas Republican would accuse the reporters of attempting to cause a conflict between the two men for the sake of creating news.
However, as more GOP candidates drop out of the primary and Cruz found himself rising in the polls inching toward Trump, the Republican front-runner began to take more explicit shots at Cruz.
After The Washington Post asked Trump about his thoughts on whether Cruz’s Canadian birthplace disqualified him from running for the presidency, Trump upped the ante on the issue.
Similar to his bus tour in Iowa, Cruz is likely to be asked about the citizenship issue by either an attendee or reporter. However, Cruz’s responses appear to have become more pointed.
Conservative talk radio host Mark Levin became irritated with Trump’s attacks against Cruz last week over the issue, saying that the New York Republican needs to lay off of Cruz.
Ann Coulter, a conservative columnist, author, and Trump supporter defends Trump’s suspicions and does not believe Cruz is eligible to run for the presidency.