Windham, New Hampshire (CNN)The day after winning the Iowa caucuses, Ted Cruz issued an apology to Republican rival Ben Carson for falsely telling Iowa caucusgoers that the retired neurosurgeon planned to quit the race, calling it a "mistake."
Cruz said in a statement Tuesday that his campaign staff saw a CNN report that Carson was dropping out, although CNN had not characterized Carson's actions that way.
"Last night when our political team saw the CNN post saying that Dr. Carson was not carrying on to New Hampshire and South Carolina, our campaign updated grassroots leaders just as we would with any breaking news story," Cruz said in a statement first shared with CNN. "That's fair game. What the team then should have done was send around the follow-up statement from the Carson campaign clarifying that he was indeed staying in the race when that came out."
CNN reported that the retired neurosurgeon planned to go home to Florida after the Iowa caucuses, rather than flying straight to New Hampshire or South Carolina, where the next primary contests are held. His aides have emphasized that he is not suspending his campaign -- rather, just briefly going home to "get a fresh set of clothes."
But the Cruz campaign reacted to the news by incorrectly telling precinct captains ? while the caucuses were still taking place ? that the move signaled Carson would be dropping out of the race.
Twenty minutes after the caucuses began in Iowa, Rep. Steve King, the Cruz campaign's national co-chair, retweeted CNN's Chris Moody about Carson's break from the campaign trail before New Hampshire's primary.
"Carson looks like he is out. Iowans need to know before they vote. Most will go to Cruz, I hope," King tweeted. In another tweet, the congressman said Carson's next steps were "equivalent of suspending."
Carson looks like he is out. Iowans need to know before they vote. Most will go to Cruz, I hope.
https://t.co/lW5Js50EMA ? Steve King (@SteveKingIA) February 2, 2016
Cruz Iowa staffer Spence Rogers also suggested in an email to precinct captains that Carson may be announcing the end of his campaign next week.
"Breaking News. The press is reporting that Dr. Ben Carson is taking time off from the campaign trail after Iowa and making a big announcement next week," the email read. "Please inform any Carson caucus goers of this news and urge them to caucus for Ted Cruz."
Carson has criticized Cruz for the incident, saying the senator should fire the staffers responsible for the mistake.
Carson released a statement directed at the Cruz campaign early Tuesday morning decrying the "lies and dirty tricks from opponents."
"For months, my campaign has survived the lies and dirty tricks from opponents who profess to detest the games of the political class, but in reality are masters at it," Carson said. "Even tonight, my opponents resorted to political tricks by tweeting, texting and telling precinct captains to announce that I had suspended my campaign - in some cases asking caucus goers to change their votes," Carson said.
