Posted on 03/27/2016 12:05:07 PM PDT by Mensius
Phil Houston is CEO of QVerity, a training and consulting company specializing in detecting deception by employing a model he developed while at the Central Intelligence Agency. He has conducted thousands of interviews and interrogations for the CIA and other federal agencies. His colleague Don Tennant contributed to this report.
The eyebrow-raising story that appeared earlier this week in the National Enquirer, citing claims that Sen. Ted Cruz had engaged in five extramarital affairs, drew a sharp response by the Republican presidential contender. Sharp as it was, however, it was strikingly weak in terms of denial, and strong in terms of attack. And that combination is a telltale sign of deception that leads us to conclude that this is a matter that warrants further investigation.
The statement that Cruz released on his Facebook page on Friday immediately drew our attention:
“I want to be crystal clear: these attacks are garbage. For Donald J. Trump to enlist his friends at the National Enquirer and his political henchmen to do his bidding shows you that there is no low Donald won’t go. These smears are completely false, they’re offensive to Heidi and me, they’re offensive to our daughters, and they’re offensive to everyone Donald continues to personally attack. Donald Trump’s consistently disgraceful behavior is beneath the office we are seeking and we are not going to follow.”
Subsequently speaking about the matter, Cruz echoed that sentiment, with even more intensity (you can watch below). He said:
“The National Enquirer published a story. It is a story that quoted one source on the record: Roger Stone, Donald Trump’s chief political advisor. 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 that has come from Donald Trump and his henchmen. It is attacking my family, and what is striking is Donald’s henchman, Roger Stone, had for months been foreshadowing that this attack was coming. It’s not surprising that Donald Trump’s tweet occurs the day before the attack comes out. And I would note that Mr. Stone is a man who has 50 years of dirty tricks behind him. He’s a man for whom a term was coined for copulating with a rodent. Well let me be clear: Donald Trump may be a rat, but I have no desire to copulate with him. And this garbage does not belong in politics. The National Enquirer has endorsed Donald Trump, has said he must be President. And so Donald, when he’s losing, when he’s scared, when Republicans are uniting against him, decides to peddle sleaze and slime. You know, Donald is fond of giving people nicknames. With this pattern, he should not be surprised to see people calling him, ‘Sleazy Donald.’”
We should note that these two statements constitute the only material that we currently have at our disposal to analyze, which is far from ideal. Obviously, the more material available for analysis, the greater our confidence in our findings. With that said, however, we were struck by the volume of deceptive behavior that we identified in these statements.
Behaviorally, when the facts are the ally of an individual, he or she almost always tends to focus on the facts of the matter at hand. In this case, if the key fact was that he had not had these affairs, Cruz would almost certainly have been much more strongly focused on the denial. That is, he very likely would have made a point of explicitly stating something along the lines of, “I did not have these affairs.”
Yet at no point in either statement did Cruz say that. He implied it by saying the allegations are false, and that they’re lies, but behaviorally, such statements are not equivalent to saying he never had the affairs. Even if we were to overlook that fact and consider his statements to be a denial, there is an overwhelmingly higher proportion of attack behavior compared to the effort expended at denial. This type of lopsided attack-to-denial ratio is very consistent with what we have historically seen with deceptive people when allegations are levied against them.
Given the lack of additional information upon which to conduct a more comprehensive behavioral analysis, this is nothing more than our initial opinion and assessment, and we will continue to follow this matter very closely. At the same time, we cannot help but conclude at this point that it’s not looking good for Sen. Cruz.
Please take the time to check out Joe Dan Gorman’s latest video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxp3zqewKRc
The whole thing is worth watching but there’s some real meat on Cruz beginning around the 8 minute mark!
While I will vote for him if he is the guy, my fear is that Cruz IS JUST ANOTHER JUDAS GOAT!
PS: As it is, after all, Easter Sunday, I hesitated to send this today. But as many of you may be home for the day and have time to see it, I did so. My rationale is that this election is without doubt THE most important in our lifetimes. If we mess up this one, you can say farewell to these purely religious celebrations but the idea of America. And just because I keep saying that doesn’t make it any less true.
Read the story. Trump is waking back saying it was a Cruz ad. Trump must certainly has been saying that.
Exactly, which even this whole scandal is.
It's taking the focus off of him being a Canadian. That's a real serious problem for him.
He has. On multiple occasions. Adamantly. You simply choose to not listen, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
You have a link? Everything I have seen has him denying the “allegations” while smearing Trump. There’s a good reason Cruz is not saying he has been completely faithful to his wife and you know exactly why.
That is true. An innocent person’s first reaction is -I am innocent. With Cruza it is someone else’s fault like CNN’s. Hell, he refused to own up t5o anything in Iowa. Why does his daughter appear almost afraid of him?
Cruz obviously not being a US NBC is my number 1 problem with him but others have surfaced since I identified that one.
“Vanities of vanities,” saith the Preacher, “vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
Eccleslastes 1:2
Well, that’s certainly one unique way of saying ‘Ted is a sex crazed poodle’.Except with him it's not about sex, it's about power.
Sharp as it was, however, it was strikingly weak in terms of denial, and strong in terms of attack. And that combination is a telltale sign of deception that leads us to conclude that this is a matter that warrants further investigation.
Yes Cruz’ responce was very Clinton like
go on the attack and blame ....the vast right-wing / vast Trump-wing..... conspiracy
I had to laugh when a Cruzer here just yesterday was already saying let’s “move on”.... with no sense of irony
....aka ...the origins of the group and its name ...of the infamous ..”moveon.org”...in the Clinton sex scandals
“Let me be clear. I did not have sex with that woman.” - Bill Clinton
That’s a pretty big denial and turns out he was lying. And I don’t think he attacked anyone.
Look for yourself, but they’re not on Trump’s Twitter feed or website.
They are on here, but I no longer hand hold Trump supporter demands for links for everything, since they then criticize me for reposting.
Phil’s not a stupid man, he just got lost in the religious hype for a while and now that the veil of hype has been removed... well, I see Ted’s political career sinking faster than the titanic as more and more former endorsers renounce him.
No one would believe Cruz if he did say that. And maybe he didn’t say it because it’s not really true. He and Heidi are a political couple. Maybe they had an arrangement. Or maybe they had a rough patch (or 5) and he sinned. Christians do that - sin and ask forgiveness. Except Donald Trump that is. He doesn’t ask forgiveness. On the contrary, he writes and boasts extensively about his unfaithful sexual conquests.
That said, yes, Cruz comes off as deceptive on this one.
[A sleazy lawyer.]
What do you call 50 lawyers up to their neck in cement...not enough cement.
Heard it on Better Call Saul.
More Trump butt boys doing what Trump butt boys do...
CheaTED.
He may have been thinking of “rats” that spill the beans in a veiled threat to the women involved.
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