![Tapper Weighs In: Takes 'Truth Position' On Cruz, JFK Assassination Link [VIDEO].mp4](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Jake-Tapper-Screen-Shot-CNN-5-3-2016-e1462306613702.jpg "Tapper Weighs In: Takes 'Truth Position' On Cruz, JFK Assassination Link [VIDEO].mp4")
CNN’s Jake Tapper debunked the rumor that Donald Trump spread that [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore]’s father Rafael was friendly with Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated President John F. Kennedy.
Tuesday, during “The Lead,” Tapper said that Trump’s suggestion that Rafael Cruz played a role in the the JKF assassination was “ridiculous and, frankly, shameful.” (RELATED: Trump Implies Cruz’s Father Was Friendly With JFK Assassin)
Retelling the story that Trump was referring to, Tapper said, “The story shows a photograph from 1963, of a man soon to be John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, handing out pro-Castro literature. And the story suggests that the man is Cruz’s father, Rafael. Now, the problem is there’s really no proof that the photograph is in-fact Cruz’s dad and Cruz’s dad says it is not him.”
Tapper then played Trump’s interview from earlier on Tuesday on Fox News’s “Fox Friends” where Trump said, “His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald’s being — you know, shot. I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous. What is this, right prior to his being shot, and nobody even brings it up. They don’t even talk about that. That was reported, and nobody talks about it. What was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald before the death — before the shooting?”
“I cannot believe I need to say the following but here goes, there is no corroborated evidence that Ted Cruz’s father ever met Lee Harvey Oswald or for that matter, any other presidential assassin,” Tapper said. “We, in the media, don’t talk about it because there’s no evidence of it.”
“In fact, there is contrary evidence, well before the picture was taken, Rafael Cruz’s sister was brutally beaten by Castro forces and Rafael Cruz denounced the regime. So any suggestion that Cruz’s father played a role the Kennedy assassination is ridiculous and, frankly, shameful,” Tapper insisted.
“Now that’s not an anti-Trump position or a pro-Cruz position. It’s a pro-truth position,” Tapper said. “Cruz, for his part, is in the middle of two the worst weeks of his campaign, having been clobbered in a number of primaries in the last few weeks, not to mention having made campaign missteps.” (RELATED: Trump On Fiorina Falling On Stage: ‘Even I Would Have Helped Her’ [VIDEO])