Trump again hints at third-party run: 'The RNC is in default'

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Monday again hinted at a possible third-party run, saying that the Republican National Committee is "in default" of an agreement and is not treating him fairly.

"When somebody's in default, that means the other side can do what they have to do," he said. "The RNC is in default."

Trump signed a pledge last year to run as a Republican and not as an independent. He first raised the posibility of a third-party run in an exclusive interview with The Hill last summer.

"I signed a pledge but it's a double-edge pledge, and as far as I'm concerned they're in default of the pledge," he said at a campaign event outside of Charleston, S.C., The Guardian reported.

During a later press conference, Trump said he was disappointed with the RNC because it stacks the room at debates "with special interests and donors."

"The RNC gave all the tickets to special interests that represented Cruz and Rubio. They had all the tickets," he said. "They walked on the stage and the place went crazy."

"I think the RNC did a very poor job," he said. "We've warned them...and they don't listen."

"The bottom line is the RNC is controlled by the establishment and the RNC is controlled by the special interests and the donors and that's too bad," he said.

Feb 15, 2016, EIB: Is Cruz Gaining Under the Radar?

RUSH:...The Right Scoop has a story that internal Bush polling is showing Cruz making "a serious move in South Carolina," a serious move. And apparently Trump and his people believe it, because this was an-all-out hit job just now on Cruz. I'm sure Cookie is rolling. And hopefully we'll have some sound bites of this before the program ends. It's been going on actually before I knew it was a press conference. We could have JIP'd some of it. I thought it was taped interview. But it's actually the presser."....

RUSH: So that was a prime focus of Trump's presser today. He focused on other items as well, and just to repeat, internal Bush polling has Trump at 26 and Cruz at 24 in South Carolina. "

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/269485-cruz-trump-rubio-yell-liar-when-anyone-points-to-their

Cruz: Trump, Rubio yell ‘liar’ when anyone points to their records

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz fired back at rivals Donald Trump and Marco Rubio on Monday, saying that whenever anyone points out their record, they “simply start screaming ‘liar, liar, liar.’ “

“It’s a very odd dynamic,” Cruz said in a clip he tweeted out.

Trump on Monday threatened Cruz with legal action if the Texas senator didn’t “take down his false ads and retract his lies.” The billionaire called Cruz an “unstable individual,” and said he is the biggest liar he’s come across in politics.

But Cruz stuck by his statements. He said he won’t engage in personal attacks, but will continue to focus on his competitor’s records, policies and vision.

He specifically mentioned his accusation that Trump supports tax-payer funding for Planned Parenthood. At the debate Saturday night, Trump said that Planned Parenthood does “wonderful” things â€” though he added not as it relates to abortion.

“He’s entitled to have that opinion. A lot of liberal Democrats have that opinion,” Cruz said.

“But truth matters.”

Cruz came out with an ad over the weekend that attacked Trump for his positions on Planned Parenthood and showed clips of him defending the organization and saying it serves a “good function.”

Cruz said in a clip Monday that Rubio has done much of the same thing to Trump. He said the Florida senator went on Univision and promised in Spanish “not to rescind President Obama’s illegal executive action” and has supported in-state tuition for “illegal aliens” in Florida.

“That’s a fact,” Cruz said.

“There are others who have had that view. A great many liberal Democrats agree with Marco Rubio that we should grant in-state tuition to illegal aliens.”

Rubio has also said the 12 million people in this country illegally should be given a path to citizenship, Cruz said.

“Now his response to three factual statements about his record was simply to yell ‘liar,’ “ Cruz said.

“Senator Cruz will say or do anything to win an election including employing underhanded tactics and making charges against all his opponents that he knows are outright lies. America can’t afford more politicians like Ted Cruz who will easily sacrifice principle for political gain,” Rubio spokesman Joe Pounder said in a statement late Monday.

Cruz said he understands politicians who want to run away from their record, but an election is about vetting the candidates.

“It is not being honest or candid for either Marco Rubio or Donald Trump to pretend that their records are different than what they are and simply to yell and scream at anyone who points to the words that have come out of their own mouths,” he said.

Code Pink praises Donald Trump after debate

"....Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin said in an email to the Huffington Post that she "loved" the debate.

"It felt surreal to hear Donald Trump, the leading Republican contender for President, saying what we at CODEPINK have been shouting to the winds for 14 years now: that Bush and his cronies lied about WMDs, that the Iraq war was catastrophic, and that Bush never 'kept us safe' because 9/11 happened on his watch."

Benjamin said that she also agrees with Trump that the war wasted money that could have been used to rebuild the country's infrastructure -- a theme the group uses in a campaign called "Bring out war dollars home."

"It was wild," she said.

Benjamin also told the Huffington Post that Trump has gone farther on the issue than Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. But she added that this might not be the best way to win votes.

"He certainly won't win over the anti-war crowd with his Islamophobia and anti-immigrant tirades. But on this issue, I'd give him a Pink Badge of Courage," Benjamin said.

"I only wish that the bed was as YUGE as Trump's bank account. Most of the country should fit in that bed."

"The Republican National Committee is pushing back against Donald J. Trump's claim that the jeers that serenaded him during the presidential debate on Saturday were from an audience stacked with big money donors.

Mr. Trump made the claim on the debate stage as his responses were met with loud boos. He reiterated on Monday in South Carolina that the party was working against him.

"When I walked in it was like my wife was clapping, my kids were clapping, but the whole room was made up of special interests and donors, which is a disgrace from the R.N.C.," Mr. Trump said.

Sean Spicer, a spokesman for the commitee, offered a breakdown of debate attendance on Saturday night to show the relatively small number of donors in the audience. Of the approximately 1,600 people who attended, 300 tickets were given to Republican "grass-roots" activists and elected officials, 600 were divided evenly among the six candidates, and only 10 went to R.N.C. donors.

The remaining tickets, according to Mr. Spicer, went to the South Carolina Republican Party and to CBS, which hosted the debate.".... R.N.C. Disputes Donald Trump's Claim on Debate Being Stacked With Donors

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