Republican front-runner Donald Trump on Tuesday abandoned a pledge to support a party presidential nominee other than himself, a sign of increasing friction with chief rival Ted Cruz.
“No, I don’t anymore,” Trump replied, when asked at a CNN town hall event whether he still supported a pledge he made last year to support whoever is the Republican nominee for the Nov. 8 election.
Trump’s signing of a loyalty pledge last September was important in helping him gain credibility within the Republican National Committee. The pledge was also signed by all his rivals for the presidential nomination.
His aboutface came as he tries to fend off a challenge from Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas who is running second to the New York billionaire in the race for the 1,237 delegates needed to win the nomination.
Trump and Cruz were enmeshed in a fight last week involving their wives, with a Cruz SuperPAC publishing a provocative photo of Trump’s former model wife, Melania, and Trump retaliating by tweeting an unflattering photo of Cruz’s wife, Heidi.
Cruz, asked earlier at the CNN town hall whether he also would honor the pledge to support the nominee if it was not himself, declined to give a straight answer.