In the continuing wife battle between top two 2016 Republican presidential contenders Sen. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, Cruz is slamming Trump for a late night Tweet aimed at Heidi Cruz.

Wednesday night Trump Tweeted:

Cruz quickly responded with a Tweet of his own:

Donald, real men don't attack women. Your wife is lovely, and Heidi is the love of my life. https://t.co/pprXhIMzUT — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 24, 2016

Cruz also responded Thursday, as shown on CNN:

Cruz told reporters, “It’s not easy to tick me off. I don’t get angry often, but you mess with my wife, you mess with my kids, that’ll do it every time. Donald you’re a sniveling coward and leave Heidi the hell alone.”

The senator from Texas went on to say that he will beat Trump for the Republican presidential nomination. He accused Trump of being scared of strong women, scared to debate, scared of Megyn Kelly, and scared to defend his policies.

Cruz accused Trump of lashing out against his wife because of Cruz’s strong win in Utah last Tuesday. “Let me be absolutely clear, our spouses and our children are off bounds. It is not acceptable for a big, loud New York bully to attack my wife.”

He went on to laud Heidi as the daughter of Christian missionaries and an “unbelievable mom,” his best friend, and the love of his life. Cruz called on Trump to stick to attacking him and not wife Heidi.

The Trump camp quickly responded, according to CNBC: “Ted Cruz is desperate right now to stay relevant in this campaign cycle… (Trump) has a long history of working very closely with women and has a great relationship with them.”

Leading up to the Utah Republican presidential caucus, the anti-Trump Super PAC Make America Awesome founded by Liz Mair ran Facebook ads with a partially nude modeling photo of Trump’s wife Melania with the words, “Meet Melania Trump, your next First Lady. Or you could vote for Ted Cruz on Tuesday.” Mair said the group was targeting conservative Mormon women.

The ad became national news when Trump Tweeted on Tuesday, the day of the Utah and Arizona presidential primary contests, accusing Cruz of sponsoring the ad and threatening to “spill the beans” on Cruz’s wife Heidi:

Lyin' Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad. Be careful, Lyin' Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2016

Cruz responded:

Pic of your wife not from us. Donald, if you try to attack Heidi, you're more of a coward than I thought. #classless https://t.co/0QpKSnjgnE — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 23, 2016

Mair chimed in on Tuesday, confirming the ad was not from Cruz:

.@realDonaldTrump Hi Donald, I know you're really upset about that ad, but it was Make America Awesome's, not Ted Cruz's. — Liz Mair (@LizMair) March 23, 2016

She went on to warn Trump supporters to stop coming after her and her family with a series of Tweets.

Trump doubled down on the accusation against Cruz, Tweeting on Wednesday:

Lyin' Ted Cruz denied that he had anything to do with the G.Q. model photo post of Melania. That's why we call him Lyin' Ted! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2016

Heidi Cruz offered her own response on Wednesday to Trump’s “spill the beans” comment saying, “Well, as you probably know by now, most of the things that Donald Trump says have no basis in reality.” She continued, “So we are not worried in the least and [we are] focusing on our campaign, and we are going to continue to do that.”

Cruz Communications Director Alice Stewart clarified to CNN that the Make America Awesome PAC is anti-Trump and not pro-Cruz. She further stated that Cruz has denounced the ad with his comments that “spouses are completely off limits and family members are completely off limits when it comes to the presidential race and the discourse and he has made that quite clear.”

Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana