Donald Trump charged in a Wednesday morning tweet that Sen. Ted Cruz "stole" the Iowa caucuses, and said either a new election should take place or the results should be nullified.
Trump, who congratulated Cruz on Monday night after the Texas senator was declared the Iowa winner, initially tweeted the message, "Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa, he illegally stole it."
Trump then deleted the word "illegally" and issued a new message that reiterated the charge.
"Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa, he stole it," Trump wrote. "That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!"
Trump had the lead in the final polls ahead of the caucuses, but Cruz benefited from a sophisticated turnout operation that helped drive evangelical voters to the polls, and late-deciding voters broke in greater numbers to Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio. In the final official results, Cruz was at 27.6 percent, Trump was at 24.3 percent, and Rubio was at 23.1 percent.
Get the Exclusive
04.26.2024