Cruz Blames Trump and His ‘Henchmen’ For Tabloid Story
Ted Cruz is accusing Donald Trump and his “henchmen” of smearing him with a salacious tabloid story, which the Texas senator called “garbage” and “complete and utter lies.”
“Let me be clear, this National Enquirer story is garbage. It is complete and utter lies. It is a tabloid smear, and it is a smear from Donald Trump and his henchmen,” Cruz said Friday, adding that he believes Trump “directed these attacks.”
There are no reports to suggest that the tabloid allegations are true or that Trump or any of his advisers are behind the story, which was published this week. The Daily Beast published an article claiming it was Marco Rubio, who for months and months, had anti-Cruz operatives pitched a variety of #CruzSexScandal stories to a host of prominent national publications.
Trump, in a statement released by his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, said he had no involvement with the story.
“I have no idea whether or not the cover story about Ted Cruz in this week’s issue of the National Enquirer is true or not, but I had absolutely nothing to do with it, did not know about it, and have not, as yet, read it,” Trump said. “I have nothing to do with the National Enquirer, and unlike Lyin’ Ted Cruz, I do not surround myself with political hacks and henchman and then pretend total innocence. Ted Cruz’s problem with the National Enquirer is his and his alone, and while they were right about O.J. Simpson, John Edwards, and many others, I certainly hope they are not right about Lyin’ Ted Cruz. I look forward to spending the week in Wisconsin, winning the Republic
an nomination and ultimately the Presidency in order to Make America Great Again.”
Cruz alleged that Trump’s campaign pushed the allegations in the National Enquirer story through Trump’s former top political adviser, Roger Stone, and suggested that Trump’s friendship with the David Pecker, the CEO of the National Enquirer’s parent company American Media Inc., made “the venue” for the allegations against him “not surprising.”
Reality
The Republican candidates for the President of the United States of America are engaged in sniping over a supermarket tabloid magazine? Is this really happening? It is? It is? How can this be? This is the Presidency. Is this really happening?
On Tuesday, Trump threatened to “spill the beans” about Cruz’s wife after a super PAC unaffiliated with the senator circulated an ad featuring Trump’s wife, Melania, in a state of undress. Trump and National Enquirer CEO David Pecker are friends, according to New York magazine’s Gabriel Sherman, who says this is not the first time the Trump campaign has planted a negative story about a fellow Republican presidential hopeful in the Enquirer. According to Sherman, Trump was responsible for an October cover story accusing surgeon and former GOP hopeful Ben Carson of medical malpractice. Specifically, the story accused Carson of having left a sponge in a patient’s skull during brain surgery. There is no evidence that such a thing ever happened, and the Trump campaign denies it was responsible for the story.
Links
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/25/politics/ted-cruz-national-enquirer-donald-trump/index.html
http://www.nationalenquirer.com/celebrity/ted-cruz-sex-scandal-mistresses-cheating-claims/