Sen. Ted Cruz's, R-Texas, team said Friday that the New York Times isn't telling the truth about why it refused to list the senator's new book on its list of bestselling authors.

"New York Times is lying," read a press release on Cruz's campaign website on Friday. "Their decision to blackball Cruz's book suggests that the Times very much does not want people to read the book."

A Times spokeswoman said this week that Cruz's book, A Time for Truth, had been excluded from the upcoming list because of an "overwhelming preponderance of evidence" showing that the book's impressive sales are due more to "strategic bulk purchases" than authentic market demand.

However, the Texas senator and 2016 Republican presidential candidate disputes this charge, and his campaign team said the Times' explanation is a lie.

"This statement is false, and the Times knows it," the statement on Cruz's site said. "There were no 'strategic bulk purchases.' Cruz spent last week on a nation-wide book tour, signing copies of his book at multiple locations. Booksellers at each event had long lines—sometimes over 400 people per event."

Cruz's book, which was published on June 30 by HarperCollins, sold 11,854 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen Bookscan, meaning it easily outperformed 18 of the 20 authors featured on the Times' bestsellers list for the week ending July 4.

A Time for Truth is also in first place among political books on Amazon.

"The Times is presumably embarrassed by having their obvious partisan bias called out. But their response — alleging 'strategic bulk purchases' — is a blatant falsehood," Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler said. "The evidence is directly to the contrary. In leveling this false charge, the Times has tried to impugn the integrity of Senator Cruz and of his publisher Harper Collins."

"We call on the Times, release your so-called 'evidence.' Demonstrate that your charge isn't simply a naked fabrication, designed to cover up your own partisan agenda. And, if you cannot do so, then issue a public apology to Senator Cruz and Harper Collins editor Adam Bellow for making false charges against them," he added.

Asked to respond to Cruz's charge, Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy told the Washington Examiner's media desk, "[W]e don't have a comment beyond standing by our statement of yesterday. We are confident in our conclusion about the sales patterns for the Cruz book this week."

She did not elaborate on what evidence led the Times to exclude the senator's book from its bestsellers list.