--- title: Ted Cruz: Donald Trump a 'Coward' for Threatening Wife description: Donald Trump threatened to go after the wife of rival Ted Cruz after an anti-Trump super PAC used the real estate mogul's wife in an ad canonical: https://time.com/4268984/ted-cruz-donald-trump-coward-wife-heidi/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-23T14:22:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:08:42.138Z article:section: Politics og:title: Cruz Calls Trump a 'Coward' for Threatening Wife og:description: Cruz called Trump a "classless" coward og:url: https://time.com/4268984/ted-cruz-donald-trump-coward-wife-heidi/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt567274014aeaf4f2/69888c28e20a874e1ba9018c/cruz-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-VOTE-REPUBLICANS-DEBATE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Cruz Calls Trump a 'Coward' for Threatening Wife twitter:description: Cruz called Trump a "classless" coward twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt567274014aeaf4f2/69888c28e20a874e1ba9018c/cruz-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ted Cruz Calls Donald Trump a 'Coward' for Threatening Wife  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Mar 23, 2016 2:22 PM UTC  Donald Trump (L) listens to Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R) speak during the CNN Republican Presidential Debate March 10 in Miami, Fla. Donald Trump (L) listens to Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R) speak during the CNN Republican Presidential Debate March 10 in Miami, Fla.Rhona Wise—AFP/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Mar 23, 2016 2:22 PM UTC Republican frontrunner Donald Trump threatened on Tuesday to go after the wife of rival Ted Cruz after a conservative anti-Trump super PAC used the real estate mogul’s wife in a negative ad, prompting Cruz to call Trump a “coward.” “Lyin’ Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad,” Trump [posted on Twitter](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/712457104515317764) on Tuesday night. “Be careful, Lyin’ Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife!” Cruz, whose campaign was not responsible for the ad, fired back at the threat. “Pic of your wife not from us. Donald, if you try to attack Heidi, you’re more of a coward than I thought. #classless,” Cruz [wrote back on Twitter](https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/712464268621385728?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw), before doubling down on that criticism Wednesday. “If Donald wants to get in a character fight, he’s better off sticking with me because Heidi is way out of his league,” Cruz said in an interview with [CNN on Wednesday morning](http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/22/politics/ted-cruz-melania-trump-twitter-donald-trump-heidi/). “It reveals a lot about character, reveals a lot about class that Donald’s instinct is to try to attack my wife and sully her.” The ad, paid for by Make America Awesome super PAC, ran on Facebook and was aimed at Mormon voters ahead of Utah’s caucuses on Tuesday, [BuzzFeed reported](http://www.buzzfeed.com/mckaycoppins/anti-trump-group-runs-facebook-ads-seeking-to-rally-mormon-v#.vrE5LXa3K). “Meet Melania Trump. Your next first lady,” the ad says atop a photo of the former supermodel. “Or, you could support Ted Cruz on Tuesday.” Cruz [clinched a strong victory in Utah](http://time.com/4268739/arizona-primary-results-utah-caucus-donald-trump-ted-cruz/) on Tuesday. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4268984/ted-cruz-donald-trump-coward-wife-heidi/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4268984/ted-cruz-donald-trump-coward-wife-heidi/"},"headline":"Ted Cruz Calls Donald Trump a 'Coward' for Threatening Wife","datePublished":"2016-03-23T14:22:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:08:42.138Z","description":"Cruz called Trump a \"classless\" coward","url":"https://time.com/4268984/ted-cruz-donald-trump-coward-wife-heidi/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt567274014aeaf4f2/69888c28e20a874e1ba9018c/cruz-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt567274014aeaf4f2/69888c28e20a874e1ba9018c/cruz-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-VOTE-REPUBLICANS-DEBATE","caption":"US-POLITICS-VOTE-REPUBLICANS-DEBATE","creditText":"Rhona Wise—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4268984/ted-cruz-donald-trump-coward-wife-heidi/","name":"Ted Cruz Calls Donald Trump a 'Coward' for Threatening Wife"}}]}] ```