Donald Trump campaigns in Indiana. | AP Photo Trump: Pence doesn't really love Cruz

Donald Trump shrugged off Indiana Gov. Mike Pence's endorsement of rival Ted Cruz, arguing that Pence wasn't all that enthusiastic about backing the Texas senator.

"A lot of pressure was put on him by his donors, and he had to do it," Trump said Sunday during an interview on "Fox & Friends." "But he was nicer to me. I mean, everyone thought he gave me the endorsement because he started off 'Donald Trump, I really want to thank him,' and then he finished with me. And somewhere in between, he said he'll vote for Cruz.


"But you could see that was not a real loving endorsement."

With Indiana's primary coming up Tuesday, Pence on Friday threw his support behind Cruz. The backing was a big one for Cruz, as Pence is one of the most coveted conservative endorsements in the state and Indiana has become a priority for Cruz to win if he wants to remain at all viable against Trump for the GOP nomination.

Both candidates met privately with Pence ahead of the endorsement. Right after the endorsement, Trump's presidential campaign tried to downplay the value of it.

"Well, we've seen now that endorsements haven't had too much weight in many of these elections," Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson said during an interview on Fox News.

Pierson went on to say that the governor was really making his decision based on his own election prospects.

"I think this quasi-endorsement was really more about the governor’s reelection more than it was about helping Sen. Ted Cruz,” Pierson said. “We'll notice in his endorsement, he didn't say anything particularly bad about Mr. Trump and just that he was gonna vote for Sen. Cruz, but it’s wise of him, if he's going to support anyone, to try not to alienate anyone. This is a governor who had a tough race last time. He’s gonna have a tough race this time."