Revenue Agenda
  • Investing
  • Latest News
  • Editor’s Pick
  • Economy
  • Investing
  • Latest News
  • Editor’s Pick
  • Economy
No Result
View All Result
Revenue Agenda
No Result
View All Result
Home Investing

Ted Cruz spotted the Trump-National Enquirer alliance in 2016

by
April 24, 2024
in Investing
0
Ted Cruz spotted the Trump-National Enquirer alliance in 2016
0
SHARES
3
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Eight years ago this month, Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) was in the waning days of his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, watching Donald Trump scoop up increasing shares of delegates on his way to becoming the presumptive nominee. At the convention that summer, Cruz earned boos for his non-endorsement of Trump — but by October was dutifully phone-banking on behalf of his erstwhile opponent. Then Trump became president and the party collapsed into line behind him, Cruz included.

This outcome would have been hard to predict in April 2016. Not only had Trump dubbed Cruz “Lyin’ Ted” — a nickname downstream from Trump’s effort to undercut his loss in the Iowa elections — but the fight between the two had been particularly nasty as the field narrowed and Cruz stuck around.

In mid-April 2016, the National Enquirer published a story alleging that Cruz’s father, Rafael, had been working with Lee Harvey Oswald in the days before Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy. This was a ridiculous claim, one Cruz brushed off. (“Yes,” he said at an event in Indiana, “my dad killed JFK, he is secretly Elvis, and Jimmy Hoffa is buried in his backyard.”) But Trump seized on it the following month after Rafael Cruz attacked him.

Cruz’s “father, you know, was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald’s, you know, being shot,” he said in an interview on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends,” mixing up the details a bit. “What was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald, shortly before the death?” he added. “Before the shooting? It’s horrible.”

That story, it turns out, ran with the blessing of Michael Cohen, Trump’s attorney-slash-fixer. That detail emerged as former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified in Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan. Pecker met with Cohen and Trump in August 2015, he testified, agreeing to aid Trump’s campaign by running useful stories and killing problematic ones (like the one at the heart of the criminal indictment against Trump). The Cruz-JFK story was one product of that agreement.

Cohen would at times pitch stories, Pecker testified, and the magazine would share stories before they ran to get Cohen’s thoughts. Pecker insisted that he didn’t work with Trump on the stories; whether Trump was apprised of the stories by Cohen can be evaluated based on other evidence.

That story was the most memorable targeting Cruz. But another story, published in March 2016, was far dirtier.

“TED CRUZ SEX SCANDAL — 5 SECRET MISTRESSES” the front page of the Enquirer trumpeted. Inside, a story alleging that Cruz had been unfaithful to his wife, with alleged paramours described in broad strokes. On a CNN panel, a Trump ally accused another participant of being one of the five. She denied it categorically — since it was invented from whole cloth.

That was Cruz’s response.

“The CEO of the National Enquirer is an individual named David Pecker,” Cruz said at a campaign event. “Well, David is good friends with Donald Trump. In fact, the National Enquirer has endorsed Donald Trump, has said he must be president.” The senator lamented that his young daughters would someday “read these lies, these attacks that Donald and his henchmen, that his buddies at the National Enquirer spread” about their father.

Cruz was slightly off the mark, identifying Trump aide Roger Stone and not Cohen as the source of the story. Stone, he said, “had for months been foreshadowing that this attack was coming.” Perhaps that was a function of the story being open knowledge among Trump’s inner circle.

But otherwise, Cruz was right. Trump’s denial at the time aged less well.

“I did not know about it, and have not, as yet, read it,” Trump claimed. “Likewise, 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.” He noted that the Enquirer had, in years past, occasionally broken real stories — unsubtly suggesting that this might be another such occurrence.

From the witness stand, Pecker identified other stories targeting Trump’s primary opponents in that cycle: one about neurosurgeon Ben Carson — that the doctor essentially admitted — and one making a similar claim about an alleged extramarital dalliance by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

It’s telling that the stories identified by Pecker as having been coordinated with Cohen to undermine Trump’s opponents centered on extramarital affairs. Trump’s defenders have argued that the story that is the centerpiece of the Manhattan indictment — involving Trump’s alleged interaction with adult-film actress Stormy Daniels — was buried by Cohen (after being tipped off by Pecker) as a matter of course, and not because of the campaign. Pecker, though, testified that his agreement with Cohen and Trump in August 2015 was specifically centered on the campaign. That stories about extramarital affairs were seen as ways to damage Trump’s opponents politically indicates an understanding that the Daniels story was similarly damaging.

Pecker’s testimony also theoretically provided Ted Cruz an opportunity to take an eight-year-delayed victory lap: His assessment of the involvement of Trump’s allies with the “mistresses” story was on the mark.

Unfortunately for the senator, he’s now too closely allied with Trump to actually take that victory lap. Politics, like love, is a complicated thing.

This post appeared first on The Washington Post
Previous Post

Biden rebukes Trump over ‘cruelty’ of Florida’s six-week abortion ban

Next Post

Cornel West, focusing on Gaza, has harsh critiques for opponents, former allies

Next Post
Cornel West, focusing on Gaza, has harsh critiques for opponents, former allies

Cornel West, focusing on Gaza, has harsh critiques for opponents, former allies

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Top 10 Potash Countries by Production (Updated 2024)

Top 10 Potash Countries by Production (Updated 2024)

August 21, 2024
Top 10 Cobalt Producers by Country (Updated 2024)

Top 10 Cobalt Producers by Country (Updated 2024)

September 19, 2024
Sen. Peter Welch says Israel ground invasion would ‘exacerbate’ conditions in Gaza: ‘Grave concerns’

Sen. Peter Welch says Israel ground invasion would ‘exacerbate’ conditions in Gaza: ‘Grave concerns’

October 24, 2023
Top 10 Phosphate Countries by Production (Updated 2024)

Top 10 Phosphate Countries by Production (Updated 2024)

August 1, 2024
Precious Metals & Critical Minerals Hybrid Investor Conference Agenda Announced for May 22nd

Precious Metals & Critical Minerals Hybrid Investor Conference Agenda Announced for May 22nd

0
New Hampshire Gov. Sununu signs $15.2B ‘miracle’ budget into law

New Hampshire Gov. Sununu signs $15.2B ‘miracle’ budget into law

0

Pennsylvania House clears tax credits for new teachers, nurses, police officers

0
Evers signs bipartisan sales tax bill aimed at sparing Milwaukee from bankruptcy

Evers signs bipartisan sales tax bill aimed at sparing Milwaukee from bankruptcy

0
Precious Metals & Critical Minerals Hybrid Investor Conference Agenda Announced for May 22nd

Precious Metals & Critical Minerals Hybrid Investor Conference Agenda Announced for May 22nd

May 17, 2025
Syntheia Signs Non-Binding LOI for Call Center Acquisition

Syntheia Signs Non-Binding LOI for Call Center Acquisition

May 17, 2025
Allied Critical Metals Announces Corporate Update

Allied Critical Metals Announces Corporate Update

May 17, 2025
Top 5 Canadian Mining Stocks This Week: Foremost Clean Energy Powers 133 Percent Gain

Top 5 Canadian Mining Stocks This Week: Foremost Clean Energy Powers 133 Percent Gain

May 17, 2025
Enter Your Information Below To Receive Trading Ideas and Latest News

Error: Contact form not found.

Your information is secure and your privacy is protected. By opting in you agree to receive emails from us. Remember that you can opt-out any time, we hate spam too!

Recent News

Precious Metals & Critical Minerals Hybrid Investor Conference Agenda Announced for May 22nd

Precious Metals & Critical Minerals Hybrid Investor Conference Agenda Announced for May 22nd

May 17, 2025
Syntheia Signs Non-Binding LOI for Call Center Acquisition

Syntheia Signs Non-Binding LOI for Call Center Acquisition

May 17, 2025
Allied Critical Metals Announces Corporate Update

Allied Critical Metals Announces Corporate Update

May 17, 2025
Top 5 Canadian Mining Stocks This Week: Foremost Clean Energy Powers 133 Percent Gain

Top 5 Canadian Mining Stocks This Week: Foremost Clean Energy Powers 133 Percent Gain

May 17, 2025
  • About us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • About us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

Copyright © 2025 revenueagenda.com | All Rights Reserved

No Result
View All Result
  • Investing
  • Latest News
  • Editor’s Pick
  • Economy

Copyright © 2025 revenueagenda.com | All Rights Reserved