Sen. Ted Cruz said Monday that one of the best illustrations of what he calls “New York values” happened when some New York police officers turned their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio in the wake of the ambush-style shootings of two NYPD officers in December 2014.

“I’ll tell you there was a moment that illustrated the left-wing Democratic values perhaps better than any other, and it was when the brave men and women of the NYPD stood up and turned their back on Bill de Blasio,” Mr. Cruz said Monday at a town hall on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“We’re tired of politicians, whether it’s de Blasio or Obama or Hillary Clinton who over and over and over again side with the criminals and the looters rather than the people who are risking their lives to keep us safe,” he said.

Some officers turned their backs on Mr. de Blasio during the funeral service for Wenjian Liu, one of the officers killed, in early 2015, and some did the same during the service for Officer Rafael Ramos, the other officer killed, in late 2014.

Mr. Cruz has been taking heat from New Yorkers for an attack line he used in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses deriding GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump for embodying “New York values.” He has been hammering the policies of New York Democrats like Mr. de Blasio in the run-up to the New York presidential primary Tuesday, saying in recent weeks the phrase is meant to be applied to Democratic politicians in the state.

Mr. Cruz had been asked by a questioner if he would re-phrase the statement if he had to do it over again.

“The phrase ‘New York values’ actually didn’t come from me — it came from Donald Trump,” Mr. Cruz said, noting that it came from an old interview where Mr. Trump was explaining his support for partial-birth abortion.

“And his explanation was, ‘Hey — I’m from New York. Those are New York values; they’re not Iowa values,’ ” Mr. Cruz said. “And so I was repeating Donald’s own phrasing.”

“Now let be clear, as I’ve said many times. The people of New York, the folks here, y’all have suffered under the left-wing Democratic policies year after year after year that are foisted [on you] by politicians who aren’t listening to you,” he said.

“You know that phrase has hurt you here in New York, right?” host George Stephanopoulos asked.

“Well, I do know that it has hurt me with media,” Mr. Cruz said. “But I will say if there ever comes a day when I’m winning the poll among the media, I will have done something profoundly wrong, and I’m not holding my breath.”

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