Ted Cruz defends convention speech, still says he will not endorse Trump

CLEVELAND – As Republicans prepare for their nominee, Donald Trump, to take the stage here Thursday night under the theme "Make America One Again," the previous evening's eruption of bitterness from the brutal primary campaign season threatened efforts to end the convention on a substantive and unified note.

The capstone of Wednesday night was supposed to be a speech by Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, the newly named vice-presidential nominee. But the more riveting moment came earlier, when Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas, pointedly refused to endorse Trump, who had bested him in the race for the presidential nomination. He instead urged Republicans to "vote your conscience" and was roundly booed off the stage.

Cruz delivered a lengthy defense of his speech during a breakfast with the Texas delegation Thursday morning, saying that the party needs to "stand for shared principles" if Republicans want to win in November.

"In that speech last night I did not say a single negative word about Donald Trump," Cruz said. "And I'll tell you this morning, and going forward, I don't intend to say negative things about Donald Trump."

Cruz said that he began the speech by congratulating Trump on securing the nomination. He also assured attendees that he will not be voting for Clinton in the fall. But he repeated that, although he would listen to Trump's speech Thursday, he would not be endorsing the real estate mogul.

"I'm going to be listening to how he and the campaign conduct themselves every day from now until November," Cruz said.

But Cruz was far from conciliatory. He stood by his decision not to honor a pledge he made last year to support the eventual GOP nominee, saying that the pledge was rendered moot because Trump attacked his family.

"The day that was abrogated was the day this became personal. I'm not going to get into criticizing or attacking Donald Trump, but I'll just give you this response: I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father."

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Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort said early Thursday morning that he and the campaign were disappointed with Cruz's speech.

"Cruz used very bad judgment. I think he made a mistake," Manafort said on NBC's "Today" show Thursday. "I think he was not respectful to the invitation by the convention to come and speak. He understood what the responsibilities are of somebody in his position, and he didn't meet them."

Asked about Cruz's remarks, Pence said on Fox News Thursday morning that he was grateful Cruz delivered a speech but added that he did not hear it in its entirety .

"This was a tough and challenging primary. These were tough competitors. And I've been through a few tough elections myself, and I know that those feelings can be strong," Pence said.

But Pence said he believes the party is "coming together" ahead of the tough general election against presumptive Democractic nominee Hillary Clinton.

"There's always going to be differences and nuances in the way people express that. But what I sensed in that hall the last several days, and especially last night, is a Republican Party that is coming together around the stakes of this election," Pence said.

As Cruz was speaking the night before, delegates chanted, "Endorse Trump!" – to which the senator replied dismissively, "I appreciate the enthusiasm of the New York delegation."

In response, delegates from Utah, Washington and Arizona, some with the word "troublemaker" attached to their floor passes, began shouting, "Ted! Ted! Ted!"

Cruz was jeered off the stage as Trump, with his characteristic showman's instincts, entered the hall and gave a thumbs-up.

The showdown between two of the GOP's most abrasive personalities was evidence that many party stalwarts have not reconciled themselves to the fact that the celebrity billionaire who vanquished 16 opponents in the primary will be their standard-bearer in the fall.

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All eyes will be on Trump's speech at the convention Thursday evening, where he has the opportunity to assuage concerns among Republicans that the party will head into a tough general election fight against Hillary Clinton deeply divided.

"I'm talking about trade, I'm talking about law and order, I'm going to be talking about borders, I'll be talking about many different things. Our country has a lot of problems," Trump said during an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos that aired Thursday morning when asked about the speech.

But resistance to Trump within the GOP continues, even though speaker after speaker pleaded with them to consider that the alternative is a Hillary Clinton presidency.

"After a long and spirited primary, the time for fighting each other is over. It's time to come together and fight for a new direction for America. It's time to win in November," said Sen. Marco Rubio, Fla., another defeated candidate. But he spoke via video, having decided to avoid the convention.

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, Ga., who had been in the running to become Trump's vice-presidential pick, tried to do damage control in his speech: "Ted Cruz said: 'You can vote your conscience for anyone who will uphold the Constitution.' In this election, there is only one candidate who will uphold the Constitution."

The call for unity was the sentiment of many on the convention floor, as well.

"There's a lot of diversity in our party and that's a strength of our Republican Party," said West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey. "I have a lot of respect for Ted Cruz. But I've made the choice that I'm all in to defeat Hillary Clinton, and everyone should be all in to defeat Hillary Clinton."

Clinton has been a stronger unifier of the Republican Party than Trump. As happened during the first two days of the convention, the hall broke into calls of "Lock her up!" on Wednesday when those onstage referred to the controversy over Clinton's unauthorized use of a private email server when she was secretary of state.

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But several of the speakers dwelled less on painting a relentlessly negative portrayal of the state of the country and more on framing the choice that will confront voters in the fall on national security, the economy and the future of the Supreme Court, among other things.

"The Democrats have not led us to a crossroads, they have led us to a cliff," Florida Gov. Rick Scott told the gathering. "But this election is not actually about Donald Trump – or Hillary Clinton. In fact, this election is not about you or me. This election is about the very survival of the American dream."

Pence's speech had intentional echoes of one of the most famous ones that Ronald Reagan gave: his 1964 "Time for Choosing" speech on behalf of that year's presidential nominee, Barry Goldwater.

That nationally televised address is often considered the moment when Reagan went from being seen as a Hollywood actor to becoming one of the most influential leaders of a burgeoning conservative movement.

Pence and others acknowledged that Trump's personal style can rub many the wrong way, but they portrayed his personal qualities as evidence that he is a strong and authentic leader.

"Donald Trump gets it. He's the genuine article. He's a doer in a game usually reserved for talkers. And when Donald Trump does his talking, he doesn't tiptoe around the thousand new rules of political correctness. He's his own man, distinctly American," Pence said.

The expectation that Cruz's comments would fall short of a full embrace brought a gibe from an earlier speaker, conservative radio show host Laura Ingraham.

"We should all – even all you boys with wounded feelings and bruised egos – pledge to support Donald Trump now," she said.

In addition to Cruz, another former Trump rival, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, spoke from the stage.

However, two others – former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Ohio Gov. John Kasich – have been notable no-shows at the convention. Kasich's boycott is particularly awkward, given that he is governor of the state where the convention is taking place, and has been making appearances in this city.

Cruz had told Trump on Monday that he was not going to endorse him, chief Cruz strategist Jason Johnson said.

However, the senator from Texas did not share the text of his speech in advance of its delivery with the Trump campaign or Republican officials, according to a senior convention official familiar with the program. Text of the address was delivered to party officials shortly before its delivery.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss convention planning publicly, described Cruz's decision to withhold an endorsement as a "cheap shot," especially after Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus allowed a prolonged roll call of the states Tuesday night to formalize Trump's nomination and publicly record the raw delegate totals.

"He could have said, 'I encourage you to vote for Republicans up and down the ballot.' . . . This was not a Ronald Reagan moment," the official said.

Trump tweeted a response, referring to the promise by all primary candidates to support the eventual nominee: "Wow, Ted Cruz got booed off the stage, didn't honor the pledge! I saw his speech two hours early but let him speak anyway. No big deal!"

Former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli II, a Cruz adviser who had led the procedural revolt against Trump's nomination, said he escorted Cruz's wife, Heidi, from the arena after her husband's speech because he was concerned for her safety. He said she had only one RNC staffer with her and no security personnel.

"I pulled her away so she could get out. People were closing in on her physically," he said. "People in my own delegation started approaching her and yelling at her. Someone pointed at her and said, 'Goldman Sachs.' "

He said he was surprised by the reaction.

"I thought everybody would just let Cruz have his 15 minutes," Cuccinelli said. "It was intended as a courtesy, but they were just wired so tight to react so negatively to Ted."