On September 23, Sen. Ted Cruz announced his intention to vote for Donald Trump. In this debate back-and-forth from February 13, Cruz and Trump engaged in their most heated battle of the campaign:



Transcript:





CRUZ: You know flexibility is a good thing but it shouldn't - you shouldn't be flexible on core principles. I like Donald, he is an amazing entertainer but his policies for most of his life...



TRUMP: Thank you very much, I appreciate it.



CRUZ: For most of his life his policies have been very very liberal. For most of his life, he has described himself as very pro- choice and as a supporter of partial birth abortion. Right now today as a candidate, he supports federal tax payer funding for Planned Parenthood. I disagree with him on that.



That's a matter of principle and I'll tell you...



TRUMP: You probably are worse than Jeb Bush. You are single biggest liar. This guys lied - let me just tell you, this guy lied about Ben Carson when he took votes away from Ben Carson in Iowa and he just continues. Today, we had robo-calls saying. "Donald Trump is not going to run in South Carolina," -- where I'm leading by a lot."



I'm not going to vote for Ted Cruz. This is the same thing he did to Ben Carson. This guy will say anything, nasty guy. Now I know why he doesn't have one endorsement from any of his colleagues.



CRUZ: Don, I need to go on...



TRUMP: He's a nasty guy.



CRUZ: I will say, it is fairly remarkable to see Donald defending Ben after he called, "pathological," and compared him to a child molester. Both of which were offensive and wrong.



But let me say this - you notice Donald didn't disagree with the substance that he supports taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. And Donald has this weird pattern, when you point to his own record he screams, "liar, liar, liar." You want to go...



TRUMP: Where did I support it? Where did I...



CRUZ: You want to go...



(CROSSTALK)



TRUMP: Again, where did I support it?



CRUZ: If you want to watch the video, go to our website at Tedcruz.org.



TRUMP: Hey Ted, where I support it?



CRUZ: You can see it out of Donald's own mouth.



TRUMP: Where did I support?



CRUZ: You supported it when we were battling over defunding Planned Parenthood. You went on...



TRUMP: That's a lot of lies.



CRUZ: You said, "Planned Parenthood does wonderful things and we should not defund it."



TRUMP: It does do wonderful things but not as it relates to abortion.



CRUZ: So I'll tell you what...



TRUMP: Excuse me. Excuse me, there are wonderful things having to do with women's health.



CRUZ: You see you and I...



TRUMP: But not when it comes to abortion.



CRUZ: Don, the reasoned principle matters. The reasoned principle matters sadly was illustrated by the first questions today. The next president is going to appoint, one, two, three, four Supreme Court Justices.



If Donald Trump is president, he will appoint liberals. If Donald Trump is president, your Second Amendment will gone...



(CROSSTALK)



TRUMP: Hold on...



CRUZL You know how I know that?



DICKERSON: Hold on gentleman, I'm going to turn this car around.



TRUMP: Ted Cruz told your brother that he wanted John Roberts to be on the United States Supreme Court. They both pushed him, he twice approved Obamacare.