Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzLoeffler calls for hearing in wake of Netflix's 'Cuties' Health care in the crosshairs with new Trump Supreme Court list 'Parks and Rec' cast members hosting special reunion to raise money for Wisconsin Democrats MORE (Texas) said on Sunday that the media is sitting on explosive negative information about front-runner Donald Trump Donald John TrumpHR McMaster says president's policy to withdraw troops from Afghanistan is 'unwise' Cast of 'Parks and Rec' reunite for virtual town hall to address Wisconsin voters Biden says Trump should step down over coronavirus response MORE with plans to run it later in the year to tear the candidate apart.

ADVERTISEMENT

"I think an awful lot of reporters — I can't tell you how many media outlets I hear, you know, have this great exposé on Donald, on different aspects of his business dealings or his past, but they said, 'You know what? We're going to hold it to June or July,'" Cruz said on CBS's "Face The Nation" Sunday.

"We're not going to run it now."

Cruz said the media has given the front-runner "hundreds of millions of dollars of free advertising." Every press conference Trump has is shown on every television station, he said, noting the media helped create this "phenomenon."

"And all of the attacks on Donald that the media is not talking about now, you'd better believe come September, October, November — if he were the nominee — every day on the nightly news would be taking Donald apart," he said.

Cruz called out the media, saying one of the reasons they want Trump to be the eventual nominee is because they know he can't beat Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonHillicon Valley: FBI chief says Russia is trying to interfere in election to undermine Biden | Treasury Dept. sanctions Iranian government-backed hackers The Hill's Campaign Report: Arizona shifts towards Biden | Biden prepares for drive-in town hall | New Biden ad targets Latino voters FBI chief says Russia is trying to interfere in election to undermine Biden MORE.

"Hillary would wallop him," Cruz said.

"Donald may be the only person on the face of the planet that Hillary Clinton can beat."

Cruz addressed the fact that people haven't brought up the issue of Trump's tax returns recently, questioning why it wasn't mentioned during the recent Republican debate.

"As Mitt Romney rightly observed, the fact that Donald won't hand over his tax returns suggests there's a bombshell in there," Cruz said.

He also called out journalists for not talking more about what Trump may have told The New York Times editorial board in an off-the-record portion of an interview. The Times recently refused to release an audio recording from an off-the-record meeting with Trump in which some speculated the front-runner talked about immigration.

When the general election comes, Cruz said Trump will be the "singular focus of the media."

"And I think Republicans, we've been burned by that before," Cruz said.

"We're not interested in losing again, particularly when the stakes, I think, are catastrophic."