Donald Trump hit back hard Tuesday at Ted Cruz’s father after he made an appeal to “every member of the body of Christ” to vote for his son, and not the “wicked” – calling the comments “disgraceful” and “horrible.” 
 
 In a sharp turn, the Republican presidential front-runner also abruptly invoked a tabloid story about Rafael Cruz’s supposed connection to John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. 
 
 The Cruz campaign already has rejected that National Enquirer report from last month as “garbage.” 
 
 But Trump unleashed on the Cuban-born Rafael Cruz, a pastor, after he made his religious appeal to Indiana and other voters to support his son in the Republican presidential nominating contest. Indiana is voting Tuesday. 
 
 “I think it’s a disgrace that he’s allowed to do it. I think it’s a disgrace that he’s allowed to say it,” Trump told Fox News. 
 
 Speaking with the head of the American Family Association of Indiana, the elder Cruz had warned of the “wicked electing the wicked” and urged fellow Christians to come out to vote. 
 
 “I implore, I exhort every member of the body of Christ to vote according to the word of God, and vote for the candidate that stands on the word of God and on the Constitution of the United States of America," Cruz said, as earlier reported by The Washington Examiner. "And I am convinced that man is my son, Ted Cruz. The alternative could be the destruction of America." 
 
 The Examiner reported that Rafael Cruz had been meeting for days with Indiana pastors, many of whom have since endorsed the Texas senator. 
 
 Trump, though, told Fox News he’s actually “winning the evangelical vote” and blasted Cruz’s father for his comments. 
 
 He went on to invoke the Enquirer story, which claimed Rafael Cruz was photographed next to Oswald in 1963 handing out pro-Castro literature. 
 
 “His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald being … shot,” Trump said Tuesday. “Nobody even brings it up.” 
 
 The Cruz campaign, though, has unequivocally rejected the Enquirer report as false. And on Tuesday, Cruz campaign spokeswoman Catherine Frazier said Trump’s comments show his desperation. 
 
 “Trump is detached from reality, and his false, cheap, meaningless comments every day indicate his desperation to get attention and willingness to say anything to do so. We are campaigning on jobs freedom and security while trump campaigns on false tabloid garbage. And the media is willfully enabling him to cheapen the value of our democratic process,” she said in a statement. 
 
 Ted Cruz himself called the claims "kooky." 
 
 The campaign previously told McClatchy when the Enquirer story appeared last month that "that is not Rafael in the picture." 
 
 While Cruz’s father was a Castro supporter as a young man, he later turned against him and became anti-communist. 
 
 Fox News' Dan Gallo contributed to this report. ||||| poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201605/578/1155968404_4876063332001_4876048442001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true Trump accuses Cruz's father of helping JFK's assassin Trump accuses Cruz's father of helping JFK's assassin 
 
 Donald Trump on Tuesday alleged that Ted Cruz’s father was with John F. Kennedy’s assassin shortly before he murdered the president, parroting a National Enquirer story claiming that Rafael Cruz was pictured with Lee Harvey Oswald handing out pro-Fidel Castro pamphlets in New Orleans in 1963. 
 
 A Cruz campaign spokesperson told the Miami Herald, which pointed out numerous flaws in the Enquirer story, that it was “another garbage story in a tabloid full of garbage.” 
 
 “His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald's being — you know, shot. I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous,” Trump said Tuesday during a phone interview with Fox News. “What is this, right prior to his being shot, and nobody even brings it up. They don't even talk about that. That was reported, and nobody talks about it.” 
 
 “I mean, what was he doing — what was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before the death? Before the shooting?” Trump continued. “It’s horrible.” 
 
 Trump’s tangent followed his rebuke of Rafael Cruz using the pulpit to court evangelicals for his son. 
 
 “I implore, I exhort every member of the body of Christ to vote according to the word of God and vote for the candidate that stands on the word of God and on the Constitution of the United States of America,” Rafael Cruz said in a video clip aired by Fox News. “And I am convinced that man is my son, Ted Cruz. The alternative could be the destruction of America.” 
 
 Asked to respond, Trump called it a disgrace. “I think it’s a disgrace that he’s allowed to do it. I think it’s a disgrace that he’s allowed to say it,” he said, before touting his support from Jerry Falwell Jr. and other evangelical leaders. 
 
 “You look at so many of the ministers that are backing me, and they’re backing me more so than they’re backing Cruz, and I’m winning the evangelical vote,” Trump continued. “It's disgraceful that his father can go out and do that. And just — and so many people are angry about it. And the evangelicals are angry about it, the way he does that.” 
 
 “But I think it's horrible,” he added. “I think it's absolutely horrible that a man can go and do that, what he's saying there.” ||||| Thanking his volunteers in Cleveland a day after the Republican National Convention wrapped, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump today slammed Ted Cruz's Wednesday night speech and said he “will not accept” if the Texas senator ever decides to endorse him. 
 
 Interested in ? Add as an interest to stay up to date on the latest news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Add Interest 
 
 "Honestly, he may have ruined his political career. I feel so badly," Trump said this morning of Cruz, his former primary rival. 
 
 Cruz was booed off the stage on the third day of the convention for suggesting that people should “vote their conscience” in November. The Texas senator defended his speech the next morning at a Texas delegate breakfast, arguing he’s “not in the habit of supporting someone who attacks my wife and attacks my father.” 
 
 But Trump said this morning that Cruz will “come and endorse over the next little while. It's because he has no choice. But I don't want his endorsement. What difference does it make?" 
 
 "Ted, just stay home, relax, enjoy yourself," Trump said to laughter from the crowd of supporters and convention volunteers. 
 
 Trump said he reviewed a version of Cruz's speech, which included no endorsement, but allowed him to take the stage anyway Wednesday night. 
 
 “He got up and he added a sentence, which could have been viewed as a nasty thing in terms of what he said because he was implying something which is wrong. But that's OK,” Trump said, referring to Cruz’s “vote your conscience" line. 
 
 Trump also called Cruz “dishonorable” for not supporting him and thereby rejecting the pledge each GOP candidate signed during the primaries indicating they would support the eventual party nominee. 
 
 "I like Ted, he's fine. Again, don't want his endorsement," Trump said. "If he gives it, I will not accept it, just so you understand." 
 
 Although they started the primaries cordially, Trump and Cruz were engaged in some heavy mudslinging at the end. Cruz called Trump a “pathological liar” and “utterly amoral.” 
 
 Trump got into the habit of calling Cruz “Lyin’ Ted” and insinuated that Cruz’s father, Rafael, was a conspirator in President John Kennedy’s assassination. Trump even went as far as to share a tweet with an unflattering photo of Cruz’s wife, Heidi, alongside a photo of his ex-model wife Melania. 
 
 Trump defended himself today in circulating the tabloid story about Cruz’s father. 
 
 “All I did is point out the fact that on the cover of the National Enquirer there was a picture of [Rafael Cruz] and crazy Lee Harvey Oswald having breakfast,” Trump said of the unsubstantiated allegations, adding that Cruz’s father is a “lovely guy.” 
 
 On Heidi, Trump insisted, "I didn't do anything." 
 
 “I think Heidi Cruz is a great person. I think it's the best thing he's got going, and his kids, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said. 
 
 Today, alongside running mate Mike Pence, Trump spent equally as much time celebrating the four-day convention as he did attacking his former opponents. 
 
 “It was amazing. There was great love in that room,” Trump said. 
 
 He also thanked his team, called RNC Chairman Reince Priebus a "superstar," and congratulated his family on their speeches. 
 
 Trump also took the time to give himself a pat on the back for his speech on the final night of the convention. Trump said he didn't mean to make his speech long, but "what happened is the applause was so long and so crazy." 
 
 Trump also argued the TV ratings for the convention "were through the roof." 
 
 "We created one of the most successful conventions in the history of conventions," Trump boasted. 
 
 But Trump's message today was one directed at those who still are not aboard the "Trump train." 
 
 “No matter how much you like, or dislike, no matter what your feelings, whether you're the governor of Ohio, whether you're a senator from Texas,” Trump said, referring to Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who also hasn't endorsed Trump and skipped the convention. 
 
 “Or any of the other people that I beat so easily and so badly, you have no choice, you got to go for Trump.”
– Donald Trump's latest is a wilder-than-usual attack on Ted Cruz: Trump says Cruz's father was in the company of Lee Harvey Oswald just months before Oswald shot John F. Kennedy in 1963. His comments are based on a National Enquirer story that claims a previously unidentified man photographed with Oswald handing out leaflets in support of Fidel Castro in New Orleans is actually Rafael Cruz. The report cites "experts" who reviewed photos of Rafael Cruz from the time period and found he "looks to be the same person" as Oswald's companion, per the Miami Herald. "What was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald?" Trump says, per Politico. "It's horrible." Though Rafael Cruz admits to once supporting Castro, he says he was "duped" and didn't know Castro was a Communist. A Cruz rep says it's "another garbage story in a tabloid full of garbage" (the Enquirer has endorsed Trump) and "that is not Rafael in the picture." Still, Trump's criticisms don't stop there. He also slams Cruz's father for urging evangelicals to vote for his son. "I exhort every member of the body of Christ to vote according to the word of God and vote for the candidate that stands on the word of God … and I am convinced that man is my son," Rafael Cruz says in a Facebook video, per the Washington Examiner. "It's disgraceful that his father can go out and do that," Trump tells Fox News. (The National Enquirer claims Cruz had five mistresses.)