CLEVELAND — Just hours before Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzMurkowski: Supreme Court nominee should not be taken up before election Battle lines drawn on precedent in Supreme Court fight Sunday shows - Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death dominates MORE took the stage for his convention speech Wednesday night, senior members of Cruz's team were still pushing him to endorse Donald Trump Donald John TrumpBiden leads Trump by 36 points nationally among Latinos: poll Trump dismisses climate change role in fires, says Newsom needs to manage forest better Jimmy Kimmel hits Trump for rallies while hosting Emmy Awards MORE.

Cruz never wanted to endorse Trump and is still furious about the personal attacks the GOP presidential nominee made on his family during the primary campaign, sources familiar with the speech preparations told The Hill.

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But top aides had concluded he needed to formally endorse Trump at the Republican National Convention.

For Cruz, it was always personal.

During the primaries, Trump repeated a tabloid conspiracy theory linking Cruz's father to the man who assassinated President Kennedy, and he tweeted a picture that ridiculed the appearance of Cruz's wife, Heidi.