Trump accuses Cruz of cheating in Iowa, demands new vote
Leading US presidential candidate Donald Trump has accused his Republican rival Ted Cruz of cheating to win in Iowa, and demanded a new vote in the state.
On Monday, Cruz won the Iowa caucuses, beating Trump and Florida Senator Marco Rubio in a tight contest. He received 27.7 percent of the vote compared to 24.3 percent for Trump, while Rubio finished in third place with 23.1 percent.
On Wednesday, Trump blamed the Cruz campaign for spreading false rumors shortly before the Iowa vote that Republican presidential contender Ben Carson had dropped out of the race.
The New York billionaire said Cruz and Carson both were appealing to the same evangelical voters in the state, and Cruz supporters told Iowans that they should endorse the Texas senator since the retired neurosurgeon had suspended his campaign.
Trump claimed that the election was stolen from him by Cruz’s campaign, saying he “probably will” file a legal complaint against the senator.
The real estate mogul, who is tipped to win New Hampshire, where primary voters will cast ballots on February 9, accused Cruz of “voter fraud” in Iowa.
In an interview on Boston Herald Radio, he called his opponent’s actions “unthinkable” and “one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen.”
“It’s total voter fraud when you think of it, and he picked up a lot of those votes, and that’s why the polls were so wrong, because of that,” Trump said.
Cruz acknowledged that his supporters made a “mistake” and apologized to Carson.
But an angry Trump dismissed Cruz’s apology. “They apologized after the caucus was over. How does that help?”
Three Republican contenders -- Rick Santorum, Rand Paul, and Mike Huckabee – have suspended their campaign after the Iowa caucuses.
Despite the suspensions, the Republican filed is still crowded with nine candidates vying for the party’s nomination.
On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won the Democratic caucuses on Monday in a tight race with self-proclaimed Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders.
Clinton won the Iowa contest by the narrowest margin in state history, capturing 49.9 percent of the vote to 49.6 percent for Sanders. Democratic candidate Martin O'Malley ended his campaign after failing to show any significant performance in the Iowa caucuses.
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