AP Photo Cruz: No Trump 'cage match' for me

Ted Cruz on Friday threw cold water on the notion of a looming feud between himself and Donald Trump.

"The Establishment's only hope: Trump & me in a cage match. Sorry to disappoint -- @realDonaldTrump is terrific. #DealWithIt," the Texas senator tweeted Friday afternoon.


The Cruz tweet comes as the senator pushes back against a report published Thursday by The New York Times in which he is quoted as saying that Trump is facing a "challenging question" of whether he has the proper "judgment" to be commander in chief — rare, if mild, criticism of the real estate mogul from Cruz.

There was just one problem: The New York Times had already posted an audio recording of Cruz's comments, and it backed up the paper's account.

The Times had posted the audio, obtained from the meeting with donors, after the Cruz campaign contested the comments earlier in the day. In it, Cruz speaks of Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson as two candidates whom he both "like[s] and respect[s]" but adds, "I don’t believe either one of them is going to be our president."

"Who am I comfortable having their finger on the button? Now that’s a question of strength, but it’s also a question of judgment. And I think that is a question that is a challenging question for both of them," the Texas senator said, according to the audio posted by the Times. “So my approach, much to the frustration of the media, has been to bear hug both of them, and smother them with love," Cruz said. He went on to say that one of the reasons he is "thrilled" that Trump is running is because “he has framed the central narrative of this primary as who will stand up to Washington," going on to suggest that he fits that bill better than any other candidate.

By Friday morning, Trump, who has consistently said that he will only attack his opponents if they attack him first, remarked upon the story.

"Looks like @tedcruz is getting ready to attack. I am leading by so much he must. I hope so, he will fall like all others. Will be easy!" he tweeted.

Looks like @tedcruz is getting ready to attack. I am leading by so much he must. I hope so, he will fall like all others. Will be easy! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 11, 2015





.@tedcruz should not make statements behind closed doors to his bosses, he should bring them out into the open - more fun that way! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 11, 2015





Cruz had his answer hours later:

The Establishment's only hope: Trump & me in a cage match. Sorry to disappoint -- @realDonaldTrump is terrific. #DealWithIt — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 11, 2015

In an interview with Fox News "The Kelly File" on Thursday night, Kelly referenced the story, which the Texas senator characterized a "New York Times report with anonymous sources," saying that every candidate's judgment must be evaluated.

“And so voters are making the determination for every candidate who has the experience and judgment to have their finger on the button, to be commander in chief, to make the hard decisions to keep this country safe," the senator said. "And what I can tell you, Megyn, is that if I’m elected, I will keep this country safe."

Earlier in the interview, Cruz reiterated his disdain for the White House's failure to name "radical Islamic terrorism" as the threat facing the country, especially in the wake of last week's attack in San Bernardino, California. Kelly noted that the Obama administration does not use the term because the president believes that "we can't alienate the good Muslims who want to work with us against terror."

"It’s worse than that," Cruz responded. "He believes the bad guys are the American people. It's why he stands up and says we need to take away the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens."

Cruz also commented on reports that a former Guantanamo Bay detainee released in 2012 is now a leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen, after a video was circulated earlier this week featuring a man believed to be the detainee, Ibrahim Qosi, also known as Sheikh Khubayb al Sudani.

"These terrorists tell us they want to kill us, and the Obama administration ignores what they say. They release him, they’ve released other terrorists, they’ve released senior Taliban leaders, and they turn around and they take up arms and they go back to trying to kill us. … American soldiers may well lose their lives trying to capture and kill him a second time," Cruz said, remarking that Obama is a president "in denial, whose head is stuck in the sand."