Posted on 03/26/2016 1:34:32 PM PDT by drewh
TV news talent took on the look of innocent bystanders being drawn into a gunfight today when GOP presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Donald Trump exchanged fire over an unsourced National Enquirer report alleging Cruz had carried on extramarital affairs with five women.
“I have to say, I’m trying to sort of figure out how to cover this,” All In anchor Chris Hayes said as he moderated a chat with MSNBC’s national correspondent Joy Reid and the Daily Beast’s Betsy Woodruff. He noted that several outlets, including Breitbart News, had opted not to run with the National Enquirer story because it was so “thinly sourced.” Woodruff said her site “thought about writing this story several months ago, but we didn’t want to broadcast baseless rumors had no connection to reality by saying, ‘Hey, these stories are going around.’” “
When the story broke and when it really blew up on Twitter today, we thought, ‘All right, let’s pull the trigger’,” she explained. The Daily Beast’s take was that it was Marco Rubio backers who had been shopping the story to media outlets for six months, with no takers.
Things got particularly uncomfortable for CNN during a live on-air segment in which Kate Bolduan asked two talking heads – former Cruz communications director Amanda Carpenter and pro-Trump newspaper columnist Adriana Cohen – to discuss the two candidates’ clubbing each other in defense of their wives. You remember: an anti-Trump SuperPAC made an ad showing Trump’s model wife in a nude photo with a headline warning she could be the next First Lady. Trump shot back that he might “spill the beans” about Cruz’s wife, and later re-tweeted photos comparing Melania to a particularly unflattering picture of Cruz’s wife Heidi.
“I think we should move on,” Cohen said of that storyline, which was yesterday’s talker but you know how cable news likes to hang on to a good thing. “Where we should move to is the National Enquirer story that has reported Ted Cruz has allegedly had affairs with at least five mistresses, including – you’ve been named – Amanda.”
(Actually, she had not been named in the article, though she’d been ID’d by other media outlets who’d jumped in to play that abovementioned game.)
“I’m sorry, I don’t think that’s moving on at all, Adriana,” interrupted an aghast Bolduan. After pausing to inform CNN viewers the network has no reporting of its own on the tabloid story, she then turned the floor over to Carpenter.
Trump, meanwhile, issued a statement on his Facebook page, denying any involvement with the tabloid report.
“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,” the GOP front-runner said in a statement.
But, of course, he made sure to note the tabloid had been “right about O.J. Simpson, John Edwards and many others,” referencing the former senator from North Carolina and onetime VEEP candidate, whose career ultimately was nuked by the Enquirer’s report about his love child with filmmaker Rielle Hunter.
I hadn't considered that angle, but it makes a lot of sense. Lure Ted in with offers to "help" his campaign, discover this little scandal nugget, and then detonate Ted's campaign from the inside in order to pick up the pieces during the Convention for Jeb.
Washington Times reporter confirmed at least 2 are accurate...
Remember how Jeb said he was going to be the nominee? And everyone laughed about it?
He knew the fix was in.
Their plan all along has been to creat an American Union with no boundaries , open migration and free trade. The USA would loose it’s sovereignty
The Bush/CLINTON / Obama /CRUZ cartel have been at work for decades Heidi Cruz BEANS that were to be spilled is to expose her for her part.
Pay particular attention to Lou dobbs part
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gXcYCwaBKnQ
Most of what NE publishes is garbage, but, even a broken clock is right once n a while and they have been right on many things. We shall wait and see - supposedly, there are vide3os too. I like to always take a wait and see attitude, but, those matching tattoos with Cruz and Amanda are something that a boyfriend, girlfriend do. Just saying.......
“i really cannot believe i am seeing all this.people who supposedly value truth are so gleeful to spread more mistruths. people have become like what they used to hate. wow how low have we sunk in this campaign with our reality tv presidential candidate. can hardly wait to see what Donald Trumps complaining, vengeful America will look like should he win.”
Hey, but imagine how wonderful it would be if you were on HIS SIDE.
Best care scenario?
1. Obamacare goes away.
2. Wall gets built.
3. Political correctness is judged to be politically incorrect and eliminated.
4. Jobs are brought back to the U.S. which actually begins to make money again.
If all goes well and he gets the chance, Trump will do some wonderful things!
The lack of a vehement denial by Cruz says it all IMO. Calling a story "garbage" is not the same thing as saying, "I didn't do it and the story is completely false." ;)
If I were running for POTUS and knew that I was being smeared unfairly, you'd better believe I'd be filing a lawsuit, but Mr. Big Lawyer Cruz hasn't done that.
I question the timing of the NI article about Cruz as well as these “polls” that show both Cruz and Trump losing to hellary AND sanders.... IMO it all smells like establishment. Granted the publisher of NI is a so-called friend of Trump, but its long since proven that everyone has a price.
So you are FOR the American Union. With no soverinty No borders and open migration ?
Before you answer that watch this. The majority of came out long before Trump ran for office The Heidi CRUZ part is new. It’s the beans that the affair scandal is currently hiding
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gXcYCwaBKnQ
Yes, that has been posted over and over and over and over. Accurate how? That 2 of them are the ones the media heard as part of the gossip? Didn’t he post also that that is what he has heard and his statement has nothing whatever to do with the Times.
I am not so sure he meant 2 are accurate as in he is sure that the 2 had affairs with Cruz, only that 2 of them are what he’s heard shopped around.
Again, there is still a categorical denial from Cruz and denials from those involved aside from trashy gossip on twitter and sketchy websites.
If all this is true, it’s gonna come out. There will be real proof, not gossip, random twitter noise, etc. Why can you Trumpsters not just wait to see what comes of it? It could all be so much nonsense, and then all of you who peddled this will be guilty of smearing a completely innocent man.
You did notice that Amanda’s immediate response was to tell Adriana that any communication on the topic must go through her lawyer. Why lawyer up Amanda?
One of those has been confirmed by a SIL The entire family are aware of affair including the husband
ha! her first instinct is ALWAYS to lawyer up! (along with a non-specific denial)
Trump will save our sovereign nation and constitution.
See video just posted
Carpenter was cRuz’s Senate campaign speech writer/communications person. He won his Senate seat in 2012. She worked for DeMint before that, so no telling how long they’ve known each other.
Would you believe testimony from one of the paramour sister in law ?
https://medium.com/@Blackppl4Trump/l-affaire-of-ted-cruz-c1818b9db18f#.qz33s5sux
Hmmmm.....
....But he usually isn’t at that hour.
“I think dinner hour for Cruz is pretty much 10 p.m.,” said Amanda Carpenter, an author and commentator who served as Cruz’s Senate communications director. In Washington, he has been known to frequent the Capital Grille well into the night.
Ted Cruz is a night owl — and mornings are not his friend
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ted-cruz-is-a-night-owl—and-mornings-are-not-his-friend/2016/02/16/c5444b0c-d1d6-11e5-abc9-ea152f0b9561_story.html
That’s my thoughts too.
The story is designed to make both Cruz and Trump look bad. Now add the timing of these latest polls that show both of them losing big to either hellary or sanders.... It all stinks, and leads back to RinoNC chair Dunce Pubert, and the other big government, open borders establishment RINO’s.
Nothing is confirmed. I’ve seen the ridiculous reports of some sister in law claiming something or another and random other garbage.
Look, if this is CONFIRMED, I mean really nailed down then the the media will run with hit. As of now everyone that had this story shopped to them, other than the National Enquirer, avoided it for lack of evidence.
All you have to do is wait a couple days and see if anything comes of it. Instead, Trump people seem to want to gleefully post innuendo, trash, gossip, rumors, etc. You very well could be smearing a totally innocent person who has, on the record, denied all of this.
What is the hurry to push this stuff? Let it play out. Perhaps you Trump people can avoid alienating every Cruz person on earth if you showed a little class.
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