Texas Sen. Ted Cruz during a MSNBC town hall on Thursday doubled down on an accusation that Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell lied to him, all the while insisting that he would work well with congressional leadership.
“Every word I said there is true and accurate. No one disputed a word I said,” he told the audience in Buffalo, New York, of his scathing floor speech condemning his party’s Senate leader over Export-Import bank legislation. “The reaction in the Senate is how dare you say that out loud? They’re not upset that somebody lied to them!”
Cruz said of McConnell in a speech in the Senate last July:
"What we just saw today was an absolute demonstration that not only what he told every Republican senator, but what he told the press over and over and over again, was a simple lie. We know now that when the majority leader looks us in the eyes and makes an explicit commitment, that he is willing to say things that he knows are false. That has consequences for how this body operates."
Still, Cruz insisted that he’d have no problem working with the very legislators he’s condemned.
“I think I’ll be able to work very, very well with Republican leadership, partially for focusing on issues that bring us together,” Cruz said.
RELATED: Cruz Refuses to Answer on Personhood During MSNBC Town Hall
The Republican candidate who famously derided “New York values” in a campaign ad months ago made his pitch to New York voters on Thursday, in an MSNBC Town Hall. It’s a state the Texas senator has no real hope of winning outright – front-runner Donald Trump is still the odds-on favorite in his home state – but the senator is working to peel off as many delegates as possible by campaigning in specific districts where he seems likely to win a few delegates.
The candidate also declined to answer Chuck Todd’s repeated questions on whether or not he’d support personhood legislation, instead saying he wouldn’t do anything to limit contraception or in-vitro fertilization.
This article originally appeared on MSNBC.com.
