Tony Cook

tony.cook@indystar.com

CLEVELAND – Sen. Dan Coats issued a blistering rebuke Thursday of fellow Sen. Ted Cruz, who set off an unprecedented uproar at the Republican National Convention last night with his refusal to endorse Donald Trump.

“I think what people saw last night is what we have seen in the Senate. No matter how conservative you are, you never can meet Ted’s standard,” Coats told IndyStar. “He only thinks of himself, he doesn’t think about party. He’s a wrecking ball.”

But Coats, who is finishing his final term as Indiana’s senior senator, was only warming up.

“He’s the most self-centered, narcissistic, pathological liar I’ve ever seen — and you can quote me on that,” he said.

His comments came at a breakfast for the Indiana delegation to the convention and were part of a chorus of criticism from GOP officials.

Coats stinging rebuke follows Cruz’s prime-time convention speech last night. When it became clear that the Texas senator and runner-up for the GOP presidential nomination would not endorse Trump, the convention hall erupted with jeers and booing.

The drama exposed lingering rifts in the party after a bruising nominating process and threatened to overshadow Gov. Mike Pence’s first speech as the party’s vice presidential nominee.

Shortly after the comments from Coats, Pence made a surprise stop at the delegate breakfast. He told supporters they have one mission now — to elect Trump president.

Indiana delegates get surprise visit from Gov. Mike Pence

In another part of town, Cruz defended his decision during a Texas delegation at a breakfast.

“I am not in the habit of supporting someone who attacks my wife and attacks my father,” he said, according to USA TODAY.

“That pledge (to endorse the eventual nominee) was not a blanket commitment that if you go and slander and attack Heidi, that I'm going to nonetheless come like a puppy dog and say thank you very much for maligning my wife and maligning my father,” he said, according to television station WFAA in Dallas.

During the primary campaign, Trump sent out Twitter messages threatening to "spill the beans" about Cruz's wife, Heidi, and Trump implied that Cruz's father, had been photographed with Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin who killed President John F. Kennedy.

He said Trump never asked him for an endorsement.

"Indeed, three days ago I talked on the phone with him and told him, ‘I'm not going to endorse you,’" Cruz said.

USA TODAY contributed to this story.

Call IndyStar reporter Tony Cook at (317) 444-6081. Follow him on Twitter: @indystartony.

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