--- title: Trump Says Tweet About Cruz’s Wife Was a 'Mistake' description: Donald Trump said in a new conversation that his controversial retweet of a side-by-side image of his wife and Heidi Cruz was a "mistake" canonical: https://time.com/4280021/trump-says-tweet-about-cruzs-wife-was-a-mistake/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-02T20:46:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:59.162Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Says Tweet About Cruz’s Wife Was a 'Mistake' og:description: “If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t have sent it" og:url: https://time.com/4280021/trump-says-tweet-about-cruzs-wife-was-a-mistake/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6ca32958fb0b1fc/69888d80a988caa0556b73f4/donald-trump-heidi-cruz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Campaigns In Racine, Wisconsin og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Says Tweet About Cruz’s Wife Was a 'Mistake' twitter:description: “If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t have sent it" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6ca32958fb0b1fc/69888d80a988caa0556b73f4/donald-trump-heidi-cruz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Says Tweet About Cruz’s Wife Was a 'Mistake' ## Video: Raw: Cruz Calls Donald Trump a 'Sniveling Coward' [Watch (HLS stream): Raw: Cruz Calls Donald Trump a 'Sniveling Coward'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IIiVcd1j.m3u8) (0:32)  _Published 2016-03-24_  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Apr 2, 2016 8:46 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a town hall event on April 2, in Racine, Wisconsin. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a town hall event on April 2, in Racine, Wisconsin.Darren Hauck/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Apr 2, 2016 8:46 PM UTC Donald Trump said in a [new conversation published Saturday](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/03/opinion/sunday/trump-does-it-his-way.html) that his controversial retweet of a [side-by-side image of his wife and Heidi Cruz](http://time.com/4270412/trump-cruz-twitter-wives/) was a “mistake.” The comment—a shift in tone from his previous defense of the tweet—was part of an interview with New York _Times_ columnist Maureen Dowd published Saturday. “Yeah, it was a mistake,” Trump said. “If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t have sent it.” Trump’s campaign [defended the tweet](http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2016/03/29/full-rush-transcript-donald-trump-cnn-milwaukee-republican-presidential-town-hall/), which came as part of a [bizarre feud](http://time.com/4270412/trump-cruz-twitter-wives/) between the real estate mogul and opponent Ted Cruz [involving their respective wives](http://time.com/4268984/ted-cruz-donald-trump-coward-wife-heidi/), during CNN’s presidential town hall on Tuesday. The image included an unflattering picture of Heidi Cruz alongside a glamorous photo of Melania Trump. In the new interview, Trump still said he didn’t “necessarily” view the image of Heidi Cruz as negative, and he repeated his argument that it was a response to Ted Cruz’s actions. The feud began when a Super PAC supporting Cruz—but legally barred from coordinating with him—released an ad featuring a nearly nude photo of Melania Trump. During the interview, Dowd also references allegations that Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski forcibly yanked the arm of reporter Michelle Fields, another incident might have exacerbated the candidate’s growing [problem with female voters](http://time.com/4276762/the-ladies-and-the-trump/). Trump has defended Lewandowski, who was [charged with misdemeanor battery](http://time.com/4275043/donald-trump-campaign-manager-charged-battery-reporter/) in the incident. Dowd asked Trump if it would have been better for Lewandoski to have apologized to Fields. “You’re right, but from what I understand it wouldn’t have mattered,” Trump said. Trump Says Tweet About Cruz’s Wife Was a 'Mistake' ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4280021/trump-says-tweet-about-cruzs-wife-was-a-mistake/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4280021/trump-says-tweet-about-cruzs-wife-was-a-mistake/"},"headline":"Trump Says Tweet About Cruz’s Wife Was a 'Mistake'","datePublished":"2016-04-02T20:46:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:55:59.162Z","description":"“If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t have sent it\"","url":"https://time.com/4280021/trump-says-tweet-about-cruzs-wife-was-a-mistake/","keywords":["Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6ca32958fb0b1fc/69888d80a988caa0556b73f4/donald-trump-heidi-cruz.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/bltc6ca32958fb0b1fc/69888d80a988caa0556b73f4/donald-trump-heidi-cruz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Campaigns In Racine, Wisconsin","caption":"Donald Trump Campaigns In Racine, Wisconsin","creditText":"Darren Hauck/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/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4280021/trump-says-tweet-about-cruzs-wife-was-a-mistake/","name":"Trump Says Tweet About Cruz’s Wife Was a 'Mistake'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Raw: Cruz Calls Donald Trump a 'Sniveling Coward'","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/IIiVcd1j/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-03-24T20:40:33.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IIiVcd1j.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4280021/trump-says-tweet-about-cruzs-wife-was-a-mistake/","duration":"PT32S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4280021/trump-says-tweet-about-cruzs-wife-was-a-mistake/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```