G.W. Bush targets Trump, who threatens to sue Cruz

Associated Press

CHARLESTON, S.C.

George W. Bush never mentioned Donald Trump. But with his folky touch, the former president unleashed a tough takedown Monday of the billionaire businessman who has upended a Republican Party his family has long led.

“I understand Americans are angry and frustrated,” Bush said during his first campaign rally for his brother, Jeb Bush. “But we do not need somebody in the Oval Office who mirrors and inflames our anger and frustration.”

Trump’s rise has confounded the Bush family and its allies. But despite months of predicting the brash billionaire would fade, it’s Jeb Bush whose White House hopes are in peril, particularly if he’s unable to pull out a strong showing in Saturday’s South Carolina primary.

The former president emerged from his self-imposed political hibernation to try to give Bush a boost. With his brother as a strong warmup act, Jeb Bush delivered an impassioned version of his campaign speech, touting his experience as Florida governor and vowing he could put Republicans back in the White House for the first time in eight years.

In the Trump camp, the Republican presidential candidate on Monday offered rival Ted Cruz an ultimatum, threatening to sue Cruz over his eligibility to serve in the White House unless the Texas senator stops airing what Trump calls “false ads” and apologizes for what the real-estate mogul called a series of lies about his positions.

The new attacks came as the race entered an increasingly nasty phase, with numerous negative ads airing on local television following an unusually caustic debate this past weekend.

Cruz, meanwhile, questioned both Trump’s conservative credentials and whether he had the temperament to be president. Cruz is trying to weaken Trump’s standing among South Carolina’s social conservatives and evangelical Christians, a key voting bloc in Saturday’s contest.

As for the Democrats, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders met privately Monday with a small group of families impacted by the water crisis in Flint, Mich.

Rival Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton recently visited Flint and on Monday announced several endorsements from ministers in the city.

Clinton , who was in Nevada on Monday, predicted Monday that President Barack Obama will nominate someone who’s already been confirmed by the Senate to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.