Boehner Calls Cruz ‘Lucifer in the Flesh’

(CN) - Former House Speaker John Boehner unloaded on U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz Wednesday night during a student forum at Stanford University, calling the GOP presidential candidate "Lucifer in the flesh."

"I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life," Boehner said, according to the Stanford Daily newspaper.

Boehner resigned the speakership last fall after repeatedly being stymied by Tea Party conservatives allied with Cruz. He was particularly angered by Cruz's role in forcing a partial government shutdown in 2013.

The Ohio Republican is just the latest in a long line of GOP members to express his displeasure with Cruz.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham - a South Carolina Republican supporting Cruz now that his preferred candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, is out of the race - had previously quipped: "If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate and the trial was in the Senate, nobody could convict you."

U.S. Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican, went so far as to say he "hates" Cruz, prior to the recent Empire State primary. He told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program he would "take cyanide" if the Texas senator was his party's nominee.

At Stanford Wednesday night, Boehner had kinder words for Cruz's GOP rivals for the presidency, describing he and frontrunner Donald Trump as a "texting buddies."

He was a little more ambiguous about Ohio Gov. John Kasich, but far more positive than he had been about Cruz.

"[Kasich] requires more effort on my behalf than all my other friends ... but he's still my friend, and I love him," Boehner said.

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