Enough with the trash talk!Ted Cruzripped into the tabloid rumors that surfaced on Friday, March 25, claiming that he has cheated on his wife,Heidi, with five different women, calling the damning reports “garbage” — and he accuses Donald Trumpof enlisting “henchmen” to plant the story.

“I want to be crystal clear: these attacks are garbage,” the GOP presidential hopeful wrote in a fiery Facebook post. “For Donald J. Trump to enlist his friends at the National Enquirer and his political henchmen to do his bidding shows you that there is no low Donald won’t go.”

“These smears are completely false, they’re offensive to Heidi and me, they’re offensive to our daughters, and they’re offensive to everyone Donald continues to personally attack,” he continued. “Donald Trump’s consistently disgraceful behavior is beneath the office we are seeking and we are not going to follow.”

Earlier in the day, theNational Enquirerpublished a story alleging that Cruz, 45, has been unfaithful to his wife of 14 years, whom he called “the love of my life” in a tweet earlier this week.

At a campaign event Friday , Cruz told reporters that the attacks are bringing him closer to the point of denouncing Trump, 69, even if the business mogul does win the nomination.

“I don’t make a habit out of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my family,” he said.
Shortly after those remarks, Trump took to Facebookto respond in kind to Cruz’s accusations.

“I have no idea whether or not the cover story about Ted Cruz in this week’s issue of the National Enquirer is true or not, but I had absolutely nothing to do with it, did not know about it, and have not, as yet, read it,” the Republican frontrunner wrote. “Likewise, I have nothing to do with the National Enquirer and unlike Lyin’ Ted Cruz I do not surround myself with political hacks and henchman and then pretend total innocence. Ted Cruz’s problem with the National Enquirer is his and his alone, and while they were right about O.J. Simpson, John Edwards, and many others, I certainly hope they are not right about Lyin’ Ted Cruz.”

Earlier this week, Trump accused Cruz’s team of being behind a smear campaign that used a near-naked image of his wife, Melania Trump , from aGQ shoot she had done many years ago.

Cruz denied any involvement (anti-Trump PAC Make America Awesome organizer Liz Mair claimed credit) and called Trump a “sniveling coward” for his retweet of a rebuttal to the Melania ads — a meme created with a side-by-side comparison of Heidi and Melania.

“It’s not easy to tick me off. I don’t get angry often,” Cruz told reporters on Thursday. “But ya mess with my wife, ya mess with my kids, that’ll do it every time. Donald, you’re a sniveling coward, leave Heidi the hell alone.”