Cruz fires back at Boehner, says GOP race going to 'contested convention'

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Cruz reacts to Boehner's attacks: 'I don't know the guy'

GOP candidate responds to former House speaker calling him 'Lucifer in the flesh,' talks his path to the nomination on 'The Kelly File'

Ted Cruz, in an interview Thursday night with Fox News, fired back at John Boehner for his no-holds-barred condemnation of the Texas senator – calling his comments what’s “wrong with Washington” while claiming the GOP race is going to a “contested convention” despite the ex-House speaker predicting Cruz is toast.

“We are headed to Cleveland. There will be a contested convention,” Cruz said on Fox News' “The Kelly File.”

On Wednesday at a Stanford University forum, Boehner unleashed on Cruz, calling him “Lucifer in the flesh,” saying he’s “never worked with a more miserable son of a b----" – and declaring “over my dead body will he be president.”

Cruz spent much of Thursday responding to those comments. On Fox News, he said he’s only met Boehner a handful of times and doesn’t really know him (though Cruz, in the late ‘90s, worked as an attorney on a case for Boehner).

Cruz zeroed in on Boehner’s comment that he and Trump are “texting buddies.”

“He thinks Donald Trump is terrific. He also praised Hilary Clinton. If you want to see what is wrong with the corruption in Washington, with the Washington establishment and the system, John Boehner and Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, they're all part of the same problem,” Cruz said.

Meanwhile, Cruz defended his surprise decision earlier this week to name former rival and ex-HP CEO Carly Fiorina as his running mate.

He said the ticket offers a “clear choice” in the election, calling Trump and Democratic front-runner Clinton “flip sides of the same coin.”

Trump, for his part, has called Cruz’s running mate announcement a “waste of time,” while claiming the race is all but over after his five-state primary sweep earlier this week.