Donald Trump Calls Ted Cruz A ‘Maniac’

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has called Ted Cruz, fellow Republican contender for the White House, "a little bit of a maniac."

The comments came soon after the release of an Iowa poll by the Des Moines Register and Bloomberg News which placed Trump at 21 percent and Cruz at 31 percent. Ben Carson was third with 13 percent in the poll, with Marco Rubio at approximately 10 percent.

"I don't think he is qualified to be president," Trump said on "Fox News Sunday," reports Reuters.

"I don't think he has the right temperament. I don't think he's got the right judgment. When you look at the way he has dealt with the Senate, where he goes in there like a, you know, frankly, like a little bit of a maniac - you are never going to get things done that way.... You can't walk into the Senate and scream and call people liars, and not be able to cajole and get along with people. He'll never get anything done, and that's the problem with Ted," Trump said, according to The Week.

Cruz has, until now, avoided criticizing Trump publicly. It was only last week that Cruz was reported to have questioned Trump's views about banning Muslims from entering the United States.

That criticism has probably rankled Trump. "I built a phenomenal business. I'm worth many, many billions of dollars. I have some of the greatest assets anywhere in the world," Trump said, praising himself, reports CBS News.

"He's been so nice to me. I mean, I can say anything, and he said, 'I agree, I agree.' But I think the time will come to an end pretty soon, it sounds like," Trump said, seeming to expect a retaliation from Cruz, reports CBS News.

Cruz, for his part, maintained his stance of not making any criticism public, taking to Twitter to respond to Trump.