The National Enquirer story that alleges Ted Cruz had extramarital affairs with five women is a "festering boil" that could sink the Texas senator's presidential bid unless takes immediate legal action to discredit it, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay tells
Newsmax TV.
"I think if he would sue The Enquirer right now, it would put the story to bed," DeLay, a Texas Republican, said Monday on "The Steve Malzberg Show."
Cruz has angrily denied any truth to the Enquirer report and charges that Republican presidential front-runner is behind it — an allegation Trump strongly denies.
"He needs to get a hold of some people that know how to handle this kind of thing because this is so typical of politicians. They just wish that the story would go away," DeLay said.
"He's got to do something. He cannot ignore this. This is a kind of festering boil that will get worse and worse if you try to ignore it and pray that it will go away. You have to address it and have to address it soon or it'll drag you down."
The Enquirer article emerged after a super PAC supporting Cruz released an anti-Trump ad featuring a nude photo of Melania Trump during her fashion model days before she wed the billionaire developer.
DeLay also believes Roger Stone, a veteran Republican operative who once advised the Trump campaign and is quoted in the Enquirer story, had a hand in it, although Stone has denied it.
"Roger Stone's a hit man. I've known him for a very long time. He is a hit man. This has to have come out of the Trump camp," he told Malzberg.
"I don't know for a fact, but I just ask myself, have we sunk so low now to have this kind of stuff going through the campaign? You'd expect it out of the Democrats but it's really sad that we're getting this kind of thing at the end of the campaign."