WASHINGTON — (CNN) Presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Ted Cruz took to the steps of Capitol Hill on Wednesday, each using their trademark fiery rhetoric to slam President Barack Obama’s proposed Iran nuclear deal.
Here are selections from their speeches.
Selections from Donald Trump’s Speech:
Selections from Ted Cruz’s Speech:
Taking the podium with R.E.M.’s “The End of the World” blaring, the real estate mogul used a brief speech to say that if elected, four Americans being held in Iran will return to the U.S. before he takes office.
“I’ve never seen something so incompetently negotiated — and I mean never,” Trump said.
Trump followed Cruz, who said that if Congress approves the current deal, Iran could end up developing a weapon that could kill millions along the Atlantic seaboard.
“If Senate Democrats decide that party loyalty matters more than national security and if Republican leadership decides that showboating is more important than stopping this deal, then the single most important issue in 2016 will be stopping Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon,” he said.
Trump said Cruz was one of the first to support him when he shared some of his immigration policies.
“I like him. He likes me. He’s backed me 100%,” he said. “Ted Cruz was out there and he really backed me very strongly and I always respected that. He asked me to come along and I guess he figured we’d get a big crowd and we certainly have.”
Other speakers for Wednesday’s rally include a who’s-who roster of conservative icons: Talk radio hosts Mark Levin and Glenn Beck; former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin; and Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson.
Palin took the stage shortly after Trump, but was interrupted by an unidentified heckler at the start of her brief remarks.
“You don’t reward terrorism. You kill it,” Palin said, in a wide ranging speech where she attacked not only Obama, but Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton and the media.
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