I wouldn’t accept Cruz’s endorsement

“This has been such an incredible movement”, Trump told backers who gathered at a hotel in downtown Cleveland the morning after his acceptance speech closed the Republican National Convention. “I don’t want his endorsement”.

Cruz, who took the convention stage earlier this week to congratulate Trump but was booed for not endorsing him, was targeted particularly by Trump, but for the most part, the nominee was full of praise for those involved in the convention. The issue began when a pro-Cruz super-PAC ran a “risque” photo of Trump’s wife, former model Melania, in an ad in Utah, he said.

Of Cruz’s attempts to distance himself from the group’s ads, Trump said, “Folks, a lot of us are political people, right, we’re not babies”. “It’s the best thing he’s got going, and his kids, if you want to know the truth”, Trump said.

Ivanka Trump introduced her father, Donald J. Trump, on the final night of the Republican National Convention, referencing his construction experience as credentials for the presidency.

“His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald’s being shot”, Trump said on Fox News on May 3, referring to a National Enquirer story the Cruz campaign had denied and called “garbage”. “Just, Ted, stay home, relax, enjoy yourself”.

Cruz defended his convention speech during a breakfast with the Texas delegation on Thursday.

If Cruz does challenge a sitting President Trump in four years, Trump said, “maybe I’ll set up a super-PAC”.

In claiming party unity during Friday’s informal remarks, Trump said “we may be missing a couple of people”, but overall the Republicans are behind him.

“It’s been the summer of Trump”, he said, adding, “There’s never been anything like it”.

The nominee has no campaign events scheduled for this weekend but is expected to be out and about during next week’s Democratic convention. “I can just tell you, having spent time with this man and his family, having seen his ability to connect and speak for the American people, I say with absolute confidence if we work with all of our hearts for every day between now and election day, we will make Donald Trump the 45th president of the United States of America and we will make America great again”.

Cruz’s positioning has divided Republicans anxious to defeat Clinton and preserve conservative principles that some see as at odds with Trump.

Several key Republican leaders, including Ohio Gov. John Kasich and members of the Bush family, refused to attend the convention, and Trump pointed out that he “ran as an outsider” who now has Pence as his running mate.