Rudy Giuliani calls Ted Cruz a ‘disloyal Republican’ for not endorsing Trump

Ted Cruz is sticking by his decision to congratulate but not endorse his party’s nominee at the Republican National Convention – a move that prompted Rudy Giuliani to question the senator’s loyalty to the party.

“I’m disappointed in Ted,” the former New York City mayor told Stephen K. Bannon Thursday on Breitbart News Daily. “It’s going to be a close election, and I think if we don’t beat Hillary Clinton, I don’t think Ted Cruz can play the game ‘I’m going to run four years from now’ after being a disloyal Republican.”

On Wednesday night, the Texas senator surprised through the GOP when he told the crowd at the Republican National Convention to “vote your conscience.”

Donald Trump’s advisers say they read Cruz’s remarks in advance. They were unhappy with the prepared speech, but were holding onto the hope that Cruz would have a last minute change of heart and decide to endorse the Republican nominee in the coveted primetime spot.

Trump took to Twitter following Cruz’s remarks to say the speech was “no big deal.”

Earlier Wednesday, former RNC chair Michael Steele explained to Dan Rather how Cruz’s new role as the “conservative leader of the GOP” would prompt the senator to avoid endorsing Trump. “He’s going to lay down the law, the mantle of what that means for the future,” Steele said.

“Remember, they left the campaign trail with Donald Trump accusing his father of being in the plot to assassinate President Kennedy,” Steele said. “You just don’t wake up in the morning and go, ‘okay, well I forgive that.’ That cuts so deeply personal. I just don’t see that being reconciled in a way that leaves him to go ‘that the man who said this about my father, I can now stand here and say I endorse.'”

Dan Rather’s America airs July 21, July 26 and July 28 at 7 am ET and PT on Radio Andy (Ch. 102).

Breitbart News Daily airs weekdays at 6 am ET on SiriusXM Patriot (Ch. 125)

For a free 30-day trial, check out siriusxm.com/freetrial/blog.