Posted on 02/04/2016 2:55:15 PM PST by Enlightened1
New audio obtained exclusively by Breitbart News indicates that as the Iowa caucuses began on Monday night, the Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) campaign called precinct captains informing them that Dr. Ben Carson was suspending campaigning, and instructing them to tell voters they should "not waste a vote on Ben Carson and vote for Ted Cruz."
The calls were placed after the Carson campaign had already clarified that Carson was not suspending his campaign.
Nancy Bliesman, a precinct captain for Cruz in Crawford County, Iowa, told Breitbart News that she received two voice mails-one at 7:07 p.m. Central Standard Time (CST), and one at 7:29 p.m.-on the night of the Iowa caucuses, which began at 7:00 p.m.
The first call came from a woman with a phone number out of Galveston, Texas at 7:07 p.m. (transcript follows audio): [inaudible]...from the Ted Cruz campaign, calling to get to a precinct captain, and it has just been announced that Ben Carson is taking a leave of absence from the campaign trail, so it is very important that you tell any Ben Carson voters that for tonight, uh, that they not waste a vote on Ben Carson, and vote for Ted Cruz. He is taking a leave of absence from his campaign. All right? Thank you. Bye.
The second voicemail was left at 7:29 p.m. from an Iowa phone number that Breitbart News traced back to a Cruz campaign volunteer hotline.
Hello, this is the Cruz campaign with breaking news: Dr. Ben Carson will be [garbled] suspending campaigning following tonight's caucuses. Please inform any Carson caucus goers of this news and urge them to caucus for Ted instead. Thank you. Good night.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
This is on national news now. Good. Finally.
I think the voters who were told that Carson was bowing out before voting should come forward and tell how, or if, it changed their vote. If I were planning on voting for Dr. Carson and changed my vote because I was told this lie, I would be furious.
Oooooops, Heart of Georgia. I said basically the same thing. I gotta’ read ALL the responses before I add mine.
Show the repeat that is verbatim of what CNN reported.
There are none
Yeah, it was definitely dirty politics. It the Dems did this, people would be flipping out.
I don't know about FR but I know for me that I don't want another dishonest President who doesn't have integrity. That's it period. It is now national news and we will let the voters decide. I am just glad that it has left the blogs and FR and now out for all Americans to make their decision on whether or not Cruz did wrong. That is who counts. We all get 1 vote.
You’d make a great lawyer.
Has Carson campaigned in New Hampshire, South Carolina or anywhere else since? No. He shot himself in the foot with his initial statement and actions. Any competent campaign would would immediately jump on Carson’s unforced error.
The Rubio and Cruz campaigns, being competent, jumped on Carson’s ineptitude. Nothing compelled Carson supporters to caucus for Cruz, Rubio or anyone else. There is no proof that any did. Perhaps Carson owes his supporters an apology for not actually trying to win the race and wasting their votes? If he doesn’t feel up to the task of campaigning, he should go back home and stay there.
Thank you!
I m sure sleepy Ben is a really great guy in a “stabby “ sort of way.
Ok..so lets give the benefit of the doubt. The campaign may not have LIED, but they certainly did DECEIVE!
Thanks for posting, I didn’t see it before as my job and life get in the way.
Elmer Gantry 2016
Of course they don’t have to prove themselves to me, but if they feel they’ve been injured by this, or their candidate has been injured, I would think they’d want to come forward and say so.
The results have been certified. But there’s no reason they can’t still show Carson their support. The official numbers wouldn’t change, but if the numbers change drastically, it might go a long way to boost Carson in other states.
Other than that, yes, I personally would like to see them come forward if only to make Rove go away. He’s out there doing his typical nonsense ciphering and coming up with a number out of thin air, just enough to change the election to Trump by ONE delegate.
BTW, I’m Trump second and don’t like what he’s done to himself the past few weeks with issues important to me.
You mean like saying that a candidate might not even be a US citizen???
This is my take on it...
One...Iowa voters are not novices. I’m sure they have seen plenty of dirty tricks.
Two...The reports were that Cruz and Rubio staffers were there spreading the rumor that Carson was suspending his campaign.
Was there no Carson staffers there to refute the rumors? If not? Why not?
Three...if Carson supporters were there to caucus and no Carson staffers or spokespeople were there...it would take about 30 seconds on a phone to find out if the rumor was true.
And then acknowledging your point that the number of people who have come forward saying they were tricked is zero...i think this is just an attempt to take disparage the winner!
Good take. No disagreements.
Carsons schedule he made prior to Iowa caucus was to go home caucus night, honor his commitment to be at some annual meeting in DC Thursday and FRIDAY be in NH. That was in a story some where on FR days before Iowa caucus. So he stuck with his schedule evidently - that’s why he hasn’t be visible in NH after being blindsided by what happened thru his campaigns honest words to CNN about Ben’s plans, which got twisted up after CNN got and shared Ben’s info.
As far as your “there is no proof”, maybe there are people who are upset and have spoken to investigators, just as the 2 voicemails from Cruz campaign that were left 7:07 and 7:29pm on some one’s home phone were recently reported about not to vote for Ben but to caucus with Cruz.
If you want better info faster maybe go to Iowa and investigate for yourself, otherwise we have to follow on line or TV and make our determinations from info supplied.
Carson seems a good man, he got in to be a voice for honesty and has had to deal with not only Trump bashing on him, but the death of a campaign worker and now the Iowa caucus fiasco. No doubt funding dried up quickly recently especially in light of his coming in 4th.
I wonder why only Cruz is being looked at for possible punishment of some sort, since there were tweets of Rubio’s camp doing the same too, and commentors on fr said Trump was doing it too, but I have not seen evidence of that so far or any mention of other candidates doing it.
CNN broke the story. The Cruz team ran with it. I see no ill will for anyone except that CNN jumped the shark.
Happens all of the time right here.
It is over. Done. Believe whatever you want. You are only preaching to other trumpees who similarly want to take Cruz out. Maybe you could go read Rush’s take on it.
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