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- Earlier in January, The New York Times reported Trump said Ted Cruz "shouldn't even exist."
- On Tuesday, Cruz endorsed Trump as the Republican presidential nominee.
- Cruz vocally supported Trump in 2020, but only endorsed him in 2016 as a way to beat Clinton.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz endorsed former President Donald Trump as the GOP's 2024 presidential nominee on Tuesday. His backing comes less than two weeks after a report emerged detailing how Trump said the senator "shouldn't even exist."
"I could've destroyed him," Trump said about Cruz, according to The New York Times. "I kind of did destroy him in 2016, if you think about it. But then I let him live."
Cruz delivered his endorsement just one day after Trump's decisive victory at the Iowa caucuses.
"At this point, I believe this race is over," Cruz said on Fox News."So I am proud to endorse Donald Trump for President of the United States. I look forward to supporting him enthusiastically because I think it's time for the Republican Party to unite."
This isn't the first time Cruz has supported Trump's bid for office. In the 2020 presidential election, he was a major ally of the then-president, going as far as objecting to certifying Arizona's votes immediately before rioters stormed the Capitol.
In the 2016 election, however, their relationship fractured as they competed for the Republican nomination. During the competitive primary, Trump criticized Cruz's wife's appearance and insinuated his father had a hand in former President John F. Kennedy's assassination.
Cruz, in response, slammed the then-presidential candidate.
"I'm going to tell you what I really think of Donald Trump," Cruz said. "This man is a pathological liar. He doesn't know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth and in a pattern that I think is straight out of a psychology textbook."
Less than two months before the 2016 election, Cruz relented and endorsed Trump as a way to combat Hillary Clinton.