Ted Cruz reacts to Trump's cancelled rally: "Campaign responsibility starts at the top"

WASHINGTON — Ted Cruz is responding to Donald Trump's cancellation of his Chicago rally, saying the billionaire has created "an environment that encourages this sort of nasty discourse."

Cruz spoke to reporters at a suburban Chicago Republican dinner about 30 miles away from where his GOP presidential rival was forced to cancel a rally due to safety concerns.

The Texas senator is calling it a "sad day."

He says, "Political discourse should occur in this country without the threat of violence, without anger and rage and hatred directed at each other."

Cruz says blame for the events in downtown Chicago rests with the protesters but "in any campaign responsibility starts at the top."

Cruz says, "When the candidate urges supporters to engage in physical violence, to punch people in the face, the predictable consequence of that is that is escalates. Today is unlikely to be the last such incidence."