After a good night on Super Tuesday in which he claimed wins in seven states, Donald Trump is facing some calls from the other Republican candidates to make public a recording which could be damaging to his campaign.
According to a BuzzFeed report, staff at the New York Times are sitting on an off-the-record exchange with Trump in which "called into question whether he would stand by his own immigration views".
The recording was made during a round of traditional visits by the candidates to the editorial board at their offices in Manhattan, in which they make their case to receive the endorsement of the paper.
Speaking to BuzzFeed, Andrew Rosenthal of the Times stated that they would not make the recording or the transcript public, nor would they comment on what was said in an off the record exchange. However, he added that "if [Trump] wants to call up and ask us to release this transcript, he’s free to do that and then we can decide what we would do".
Speaking on Fox News, Trump himself did not back away from that implication, saying that "everything is negotiable. Things are negotiable, I'll be honest with you, you know I make the wall two feet shorter or something. I mean everything is negotiable".
Trump clarified that the building of the wall was not something that he was willing to bend on, however.
Image: David J. Phillip / AP/Press Association Images
In his victory speech in Texas, Cruz took aim at Trump calling on the other candidates to drop out of the race and get behind his campaign to stop the billionaire, stating that "America shouldn't have a President whose words would make you embarrassed if your children repeated them"
"We can nominate a Washington deal-maker, profane and vulgar, who has a lifelong pattern of using government power for personal gain. Or we can nominate a proven conservative who has fought consistently for working men and women and to defend the constitution".
He went on to call on Trump to release the tape of the recording saying "it was reported that the New York Times has a secret tape recording of Donald saying that he doesn't mean what he's saying on immigration. That it's all flexible, that he won't build a wall, that he won't deport illegal aliens. But Donald refuses to allow them to release the tape. Donald, release the tape.
"If you're telling the New York Times editorial board that you're lying to the voters, the voters have a right to know".
Speaking in Conway, Arkansas on Monday, Rubio echoed the calls for Trump to make the recording public, labeling him a con artist, and stating that the electorate are being "manipulated by a famous billionaire".
