Ted Cruz: 'I Salute Donald Trump'

He's going where few other GOP presidential candidates dare to go, as fallout from the Mexican “rapists” comment continues.

Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, U.S. 2016 presidential candidate and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on oversight, agency action, federal rights and federal courts, pauses while speaking during a hearing in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, June 4, 2015.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

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By Ali Elkin

July 5, 2015 at 3:17 PM UTC

Updated on

July 5, 2015 at 3:28 PM UTC

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While several of his competitors run in the opposite direction, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz says he won't attack primary rival Donald Trump for his comments on Mexican immigrants. Quite the opposite, in fact.

“I salute Donald Trump for focusing on the need to address illegal immigration,” the Texas senator said on NBC's Meet the Press in an interview that aired Sunday. “The Washington cartel doesn't want to address that. The Washington cartel doesn't believe we need to secure the borders. The Washington cartel supports amnesty and I think amnesty's wrong, and I salute Donald Trump for focusing on it. He has a colorful way of speaking. It's not the way I speak, but I'm not going to engage in the media's game of throwing rocks and attacking other Republicans. I'm just not going to do it.”