Christie, Cruz refuse to abandon Trump despite tape

Republicans are abandoning Donald Trump in droves in the wake of his shockingly lewd comments about women, but Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Ted Cruz won’t be joining them.

“I’m still supporting Donald,” the New Jersey governor said in a radio interview with WFAN on Tuesday. “I’m really upset about what I heard, but in the end this election is about bigger issues.”

Cruz agrees.

“I am supporting the Republican nominee because I think Hillary Clinton is an absolute disaster,” the Texas senator told a local television station in Muleshoe, Texas, on Monday night, hours after House Speaker Paul Ryan told his fellow House Republicans that he would no longer defend Trump but would focus instead on down-ballot races.

Trump fired back on Twitter.

During the Republican primary, Trump frequently referred to Cruz as Lyin’ Ted, insulted his wife and suggested that Cruz’s father was involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. At the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Cruz was booed when he gave a speech while declining to endorse his party’s nominee.

“Now my differences with Donald, I have articulated at great length during the campaign,” Cruz said. “And I tried all my might. I gotta tell you, it was an amazing journey.”

But Cruz, who ultimately endorsed Trump last month, insisted his endorsement has more to do with his commitment to the party — and to taking down Trump’s opponent — than anything else.

“This is an election unlike any other, but I tell you, Hillary Clinton I think is manifestly unfit to be president,” Cruz said in the interview, which was conducted at a Mexican restaurant — part of the senator’s three-day state agriculture tour. “The policies she’s advancing are the continuation of eight years of Barack Obama.”

He added: “We need to have a president, we need to have leaders in Washington that will fight to defend our jobs, to get government off our back and to defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights to keep us safe.”

Related: Evangelical magazine publishes scathing anti-Trump editorial

In a 2005 video tape published Friday by the Washington Post, Trump was caught on a hot mic bragging to then “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush that he could do anything he wanted to with women because of his celebrity status.

“I just kiss. I don’t even wait,” Trump said. “And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p****. You can do anything.”

The comments led to a cavalcade of Republicans — including Arizona Sen. John McCain — rescinding their endorsements of Trump.

On Friday night, Trump apologized for his remarks but quickly pivoted to an attack on Bill Clinton’s sexual scandals.

Christie said he was disappointed with the initial apology, but said he believed Trump was genuinely sorry.

“I do think he’s sorry,” Christie said. “I was there when he found out about it, and there is no question in my mind he’s embarrassed by it. But I think that he should have been much more direct and much more focused on just saying I’m sorry and only I’m sorry, and that’s what I would have done. … I would’ve just focused on making sure people understood that he was really sorry for what he had done 11 years ago.”

On Sunday, Cruz questioned the timing of the tape’s release.

“NBC had tape 11 yrs,” he tweeted. “Apprentice producer says they have more & worse. So why not release in 2015? In March? Why wait till October?”

Last week, Cruz was seen working the phones at the Republican Party headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, to encourage potential GOP voters to come out and vote in next month’s presidential election.

“A year ago, I stood onstage and promised to support the Republican nominee, whoever that was,” Cruz said at the event. “And I am honoring my word.”