Ted Cruz Hopes Release Of JFK Files Will End 'Ludicrous' Claim His Dad Was Involved

One person with a keen interest in the JFK assassination files President Donald Trump is releasing on Thursday is Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

During the 2016 presidential campaign, when Cruz was Trump’s closest rival for the GOP nomination, Trump promoted a bizarre conspiracy theory that Cruz’s father, Rafael, was somehow involved in President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 assassination.

The pending release of the files reminds people of the unproven conspiracy theory , and Cruz told NBC News journalist Frank Thorp V he is looking forward to seeing what’s in the documents.

The theory that Cruz’ father was involved in the murder plot was first reported by the National Enquirer in March 2016, and included a photo supposedly taken in 1963 showing a man it identified as Cruz’s father helping JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald  distribute pro-Fidel Castro literature in New Orleans.

Cruz rep Alice Stewart called the theory “another garbage story in a tabloid full of garbage,” according to the Miami Herald. “The story is false; that is not Rafael in the picture,” Stewart added. 

Trump refused to apologize for repeating the claim.

Cruz’s contempt for the smear against his father didn’t stop him from endorsing and campaigning for Trump in the weeks before the election.