Ted Cruz Blames 'Sleazy Donald' for National Enquirer Report
— -- At a news conference while campaigning in Wisconsin today, Ted Cruz denied a recently released National Enquirer report that claims "political operatives" are looking into rumors that Cruz had multiple marital infidelities.
Cruz blamed the report on Donald Trump and his "henchmen" and gave Trump a new nickname of "Sleazy Donald."
“Let me be clear this National Enquirer story is garbage,” Cruz said today. “It is complete and utter lies. It is a tabloid smear and it is a smear that has come from Donald Trump and his henchmen.”
"You know, Donald is fond of giving people nicknames," Cruz added. "With this pattern he should not be surprised to see people calling him 'Sleazy Donald.'"
Cruz noted that the article quoted Roger Stone, who was Trump's longtime political adviser until he fired Stone in August of last year. Stone is quoted as saying that there may be possible political problems for Cruz with evangelical Christian supporters.
In a phone interview with ABC News, Roger Stone confirmed the accuracy of his quote in the National Enquirer report, but says he was only responding to what he’s been told and was not the original source of the Cruz rumors.
Cruz's wife, Heidi Cruz, introduced the Texas senator at his rally today in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, but was not with him when he spoke to reporters afterwards.
"These smears are completely false, they’re offensive to Heidi and me, they’re offensive to our daughters, and they’re offensive to everyone Donald continues to personally attack,” Cruz wrote in a Facebook post Friday.
The National Enquirer allegations have not been confirmed by ABC News.
Cruz has been in a war of words with Trump over tweets Trump had been sending. Trump tweeted Tuesday he would "spill the beans" about Cruz's wife without providing further information and retweeted Wednesday a split photo of Heidi and his wife Melania Trump, with the text: “No need to 'spill the beans.’ The images are worth a thousand words.”
Cruz rebuked Trump on Thursday: "Donald you’re a sniveling coward and leave Heidi alone!"
And Heidi Cruz responded on Wednesday while on the stump for her husband, saying, "As you may know by now, there are a lot of things that Donald Trump and his campaign say that have no basis in reality."
ABC News' Rick Klein and John Santucci contributed to this report.
