“A lot has changed in the last 10 years,” the comedian noted.

Seth Meyers reminds Ted Cruz that Donald Trump once accused his dad of helping to kill JFK

"A lot has changed in the last 10 years," the comedian noted.

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on Entertainment Tonight and Popsugar.

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June 4, 2026 1:07 p.m. ET

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Seth Meyers on Wednesday's 'Late Night'; Ted Cruz at a Senate hearing in March. Credit:

Lloyd Bishop/NBC; Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty

- While blasting Ted Cruz over recent comments, Seth Meyers recalled Donald Trump's accusation in 2016 that the senator's father was connected to Lee Harvey Oswald.

- "I know you have a dad because he helped kill JFK — according to Donald Trump!" Meyers quipped during Wednesday night's episode of *Late Night With Seth Meyers*.

- Despite Cruz and his father both denying the accusation, Trump refused to apologize for citing an unsubstantiated tabloid story.

Ted Cruz and Donald Trump might seem like close peers nowadays, but Seth Meyers recalls a time when the relationship between the two Republicans was rather contentious.

During Wednesday's episode of *Late Night With Seth Meyers*, the comedian blasted the senator from Texas for his recent comments regarding current gas prices. During the "A Closer Look" segment, the host brought up Cruz's argument that gas prices won't have any impact on the midterms for Republicans, asking if Cruz has "a dad."

"Because I do, and he's not a big texter, but when gas goes over $4 a gallon, he blows up my phone like an angry girlfriend," Meyers joked. "By the way, Ted Cruz, I know you have a dad because he helped kill JFK, according to Donald Trump! According to Donald Trump!"

Donald Trump and Ted Cruz at Turning Point's AmericaFest 2024.

Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty

The late-night host pointed out that that was a real accusation Trump made against Cruz and his father, Rafael Cruz, in April 2016, when Cruz was Trump's rival for the GOP presidential nomination.

"That caused the Cruz campaign to issue a statement saying, '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,'" Meyers reminded his audience. "Man! You read that and you think a lot has changed in the last 10 years."

Indeed, Trump — then the front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination for president —caused a major fuss when he cited an unsubstantiated report by *The National Enquirer *alleging that Cruz's father was photographed with Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of President John F. Kennedy.

"I mean, what was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before the death, before the shooting?" Trump asked during an interview with Fox News. "It's horrible."

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Both Cruz and his father denied the report before Cruz dropped out of the race after losing the Indiana primary.

"It's ludicrous. It's ludicrous. I was never in New Orleans at that time," Rafael fired back. "That's typical of Donald Trump. Just attack and make all kinds of innuendo and attacks with no substance."

"This man is a pathological liar," Ted Cruz also told reporters at the time. "He doesn't know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth. And in a pattern that I think is straight out of a psychology textbook, his response is to accuse everyone else of lying."

Ted Cruz at the Conservative Political Action Conference in March.

Shafkat Anowar/The Dallas Morning News via Getty

A year later, the former publisher of the *National Enquirer,* David Pecker, testified at Trump's hush money trial that the tabloid completely manufactured the negative story.

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Watch Meyers' full monologue blasting Cruz above.

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Talk”