“Ted Cruz himself knew he wasn’t eligible and said as much early in his career.”
I’ll bet you will be able to prove that claim.
Anyone who followed the controversy closely in 2015/2016 would remember reports of the earlier definition of NBC by Ted Cruz before he had ambition to be POTUS.
At the time one of the men who had been associated with him in legal circles and a college classmate both reported Cruz defining NBC and stating that he, Cruz, was ineligible to be POTUS. Those references are going to be nigh impossible to produce at this time but I can offer a more general support for the position.
Lawrence tribe touches upon the issue.
https://upnight.com/2016/01/16/and-the-winner-of-the-academy-award-for-hypocrisy-is-ted-cruz/