Ted Cruz to speak at RNC following Trump meeting

(CNN)Sen. Ted Cruz, Donald Trump's former chief rival for the GOP nomination, will speak at the Republican National Convention later this month, the Texas senator told reporters after the two met Thursday in Washington.

Cruz told reporters Thursday that the real estate mogul offered his former primary rival a speaking slot during the meeting and Cruz accepted. He added that he and Trump did not discuss an endorsement.

Cruz said that Trump offered Cruz a speaking slot and that he accepted.

"We had a positive and productive meeting this morning with Donald Trump. Donald asked me to speak at the Republican convention and I told him I'd be happy to do so," Cruz told reporters.

The two men met Thursday with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus at the National Republican Senatorial Committee headquarters were Trump also met with several dozen other Republican senators on Thursday. The meeting marked the first time Cruz and Trump met in person since the Texas senator dropped out of the presidential race more than two months ago.
Priebus told Fox News Thursday that Trump and Cruz had "a good conversation," but said that because the meeting was private, he wouldn't go into specifics.

"I'll just say they had a good conversation and it was very polite and cordial and normal," Priebus said. "I know they're working on details."

A senior Trump campaign official said Trump and Cruz agreed to no longer work against each other and would work together on policy issues where they share common ground. Trump also asked Cruz to help recommend potential judicial nominees, the official said.

Trump and Cruz were joined by Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, as well as Cruz's former campaign chairman Jeff Roe.

The Texas senator has so far refused to endorse Trump, but has not ruled it out.

While Cruz resisted criticizing Trump in the initial months of the GOP primary campaign, Cruz would eventually become one of Trump's fiercest rivals -- and the last remaining legitimate challenge to Trump's campaign to win the Republican presidential nomination.

And the final weeks of Cruz's campaign were dominated by Trump's personal attacks against the Texas senator and his family as the fight between the two men grew increasingly bitter and personal.

In late March, Trump threatened to "spill the beans" on Cruz's wife after an anti-Trump super PAC unaffiliated with Cruz's campaign pushed out a series of digital ads aimed at portraying Trump's wife in a negative light.

And Trump would later also retweet an unflattering picture of the Texans' wife alongside a glamorous shot of his own wife with the caption "the images are worth a thousand words."

And as Indiana's Republican voters headed to the polls, Trump again turned to the personal, accusing Cruz's father of being involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Cruz also turned to mudslinging in his campaign against Trump, criticizing the New York billionaire in the final days of the Indiana campaign of being as a "serial philanderer," "pathological liar" and "narcissist."

And he opened one of the first fronts in his battle with Trump by hitting Trump as an out-of-touch candidate with "New York values."
Returning to the Senate in May after dropping out of the presidential race, Cruz would not express his support for Trump as the GOP nominee -- but did not rule it out.

"There are two and a half months until the Republican convention, six months until the general election," Cruz told reporters in May after returning to Washington. "There will be plenty of time for voters to make the determination who they're going to support."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/07/politi...eince-priebus/