A pro-Ted Cruz PAC is targeting Donald Trump for his friendship with ex-heavyweight champion Mike Tyson after the GOP front-runner touted Tyson's endorsement in Indianapolis, near the site where the boxer was convicted of rape in the 1990s.
The $375,000 online ad buy contrasts the Trump-Tyson friendship to Indiana Gov. Mike Pence's endorsement of Cruz on Friday, reports
The Washington Post.
Back in July 1991, Trump defended Tyson after he attacked a Miss Black America contestant in a hotel room in Indianapolis. At the time, Trump accused the rape victim of exploiting Tyson and claimed he'd been "railroaded," the ad points out.
Tyson served time in prison and made some boxing comebacks, but has since created a new personality, including playing himself in three "Hangover" movies and doing a voiceover for the
"Mike Tyson Mysteries" Adult Swim cartoon series.
Trump this week reminded voters of Tyson's endorsement, and that the one-time champion had tweeted about him.
"Mike. Iron Mike. You know, all the tough guys endorse me. I like that, OK?" Trump said.
Greg Garrison, who had been the lead prosecutor on the Tyson rape case, is now a radio talk show host, and complained on the air about Trump's comments on Tyson.
"Did nobody in that whole entourage of yours know that that snake raped a lovely kid in this town?” Garrison said on the show. “I think I’d beef up my intelligence operation a little bit."
And on Friday, Cruz running mate Carly Fiorina slammed Trump for his relationship with Tyson.
"Sorry, I don't consider a convicted rapist a tough guy, and I think it says a lot about Donald Trump's campaign and his character that he is standing up and cheering for an endorsement by Mike Tyson," she told reporters.
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Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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