Trump: Cruz won 'because he got Ben Carson’s votes' Maybe Donald Trump is not over losing Iowa after all. After Ted Cruz touted his first-place finish in Monday's Iowa caucuses during his closing statement, Trump took a shot of his own. “That’s because he got Ben Carson’s votes by the way, but we won’t say that," Trump said. The remark was greeted by a mixture of boos, laughter and cheers. Trump on Wednesday accused Cruz of "illegally" stealing the election, citing the fact that the Texas senator's campaign circulated a CNN report that Carson would be leaving the race after the caucuses. By Thursday, Trump said he was over the episode. "I don't care. I mean, I don't want to even say. Let's see what happens. I guess people are looking at it. Who cares? I picked up a lot of delegates," he told CNN's Anderson Cooper. The retired neurosurgeon, in fact, took a detour from the trail to pick up clean clothes in Florida, a fact that the CNN reporter noted in a follow-up tweet moments later. The Cruz campaign picked up on the first message but did not relay the second, for which Cruz has apologized to Carson on separate occasions.