Posted on 03/26/2016 3:02:04 PM PDT by drewh
Texas senator Ted Cruz has allegedly had extramarital affairs with at least five different women and been paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep it quiet, according to reports.
The devastating claims about the avowed Evangelical Christian, published in the new issue of the National Enquirer, reports that investigators are looking into the alleged affairs and that Cruz may be victim of a dirty tricks campaign aimed at derailing his campaign for the Republican nomination. Blurred pictures of the five alleged mistresses are in the article. As of this writing, three of the women have been unmasked by other sources.
UPDATE: The UK Daily Mail reports that Republican strategist Liz Mair who runs an anti-Trump super-PAC identified the women on Twitter. Mairs Super-PAC was the one who published the Internet adverts mocking Trumps wife Melania (see below).
Cruz has denounced the Enquirer article as garbage and complete and utter lies, and blamed rival Donald Trump and his henchmen for the piece.
Third-pary sources claim three of the alleged women are (L-R) Katrina Pierson, Third-party sources claim three of the alleged women are (L-R) Katrina Pierson, Sarah Isgur Flores, and Amanda Carpenter. Katrina Pierson, US Congress candidate Distrct 32 Katrina Pierson First is current Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson, according to Political Insider. Pierson rose through the ranks of Tea Party activism to run for Congress in the Texas 32 District, eventually working on Ted Cruzs senate campaign as an advisor.
Pierson has flatly denied the rumor of an affair with Cruz, telling blogger Gateway Pundit, its ridiculous. Anyone with half a brain knows its false [ .] I dont think the article is true. I cant see Cruz being like that [ .] All I know is its not me. Theres a reason they dont use my name. They know its BS.
Sarah Isgur Flores Second is Sarah Isgur Flores, who was also campaign manager for the failed presidential campaign of Carly Fiorina. She describes herself on her Twitter profile as, Republican strategist and campaign junkie. Texan by birth, lawyer by education, cat lady by choice.
The Washington Post reports that a Ted Cruz Super-PAC, Keep the Promise I, sent a Carly Fiorina Super-Pac, Carly for America CfA, US$500,000.
That distribution from one candidates Super-PAC to another, raised the eyebrows of the Federal Election Commission who inquired about the rather unusual transaction.
It is being speculated on social media that Keep the Promise I made the donation to Fiorinas Super-PAC to keep the alleged affair quiet.
Although theyre rarely enforced, the law allows for criminal prosecution for official campaigns coordinating with their own PACs, as a hush money payout would seem to be
Amanda Carpenter Amanda Carpenter The third woman is Amanda Carpenter, a conservative activist, CNN commentator, and writer for the Mark Levin radio show. Carpenter infamously created a blacklist of people who endorsed campaign rival Donald Trump.
In 2013, Carpenter began working for Cruz as Speechwriter and Senior Communications Advisor, and was promoted to Communications Director in October 2014. She left in July 2015.
Carpenter is married to conservative journalist Chris Kinnan, who joined grassroots activist group Freedomworks in 2001 and is currently the Vice President of Interactive Media. The public affairs group is responsible for FreedomWorks media relations, intern relations, and government affairs outreach, including FreedomWorks Internet and e-mail communications and campaigns. The couple have two children.
Carpenter angrily denied having an affair with Ted Cruz on Friday, telling CNN during a heated exchange, they can talk to my lawyer.
The other two women pictured in the Enquirer article are allegedly an Austin-area school teacher, and a prostitute.
Rumors of the alleged Cruz affairs have been circulating for some time. Florida Senator Marco Rubio started the Twitter hashtag #TheThing to get word of the scandal out, but strangely it was not picked up by any media.
Conservative news outlet Breitbart allegedly knew of the scandal but refused to report on it. This is being fueled by a tweet made by the websites writer, Allum Bokhari.
I hate getting scooped, he tweeted the night that news of the alleged affair broke.
However, Breitbart has controversially been very pro-Trump during the primary campagin. Several former Trump staffers told left-leaning news website Buzzfeed that Trump had been paying Breitbart for favorable coverage:
According to four sources with knowledge of the situation, editors and writers at the outlet have privately complained since at least last year that the companys top management was allowing Trump to turn Breitbart into his own fan websiteusing it to hype his political prospects and attack his enemies. One current editor called the water-carrying despicable and embarrassing, and said he was told by an executive last year that the company had a financial arrangement with Trump. A second Breitbart staffer said he had heard a similar description of the sites relationship with the billionaire but didnt know the details; and a third source at the company said he knew of several instances when managers had overruled editors at Trumps behest. Additionally, a conservative communications operative who works closely with Breitbart described conversations in which multiple writers and editors said Trump was paying for the ability to shape coverage, and added that one staffer claimed to have seen documentation of the pay for play.
Buzzfeed also reports that Cruzs wife Heidi was picked up by Austin police on the night of August 22, 2005. A heavily-redacted police report says Mrs. Cruz was found sitting on the side of the road, with her head in her hands. Although no signs of intoxication were detected, officers reporting to the scene felt she was a danger to herself, and escorted her home.
Ted Cruz explained to the website that his wife had experienced a bout of depression while making a transition at her high-pressure job at Goldman Sachs. However, given the new set of allegations, it is being speculated that the 2005 incident was Heidis reaction to finding out about at least one affair.
UPDATE: Sources indicate the teacher affair happened when Cruz was solicitor general from 2003-2008.
A few days before the mistress bomb hit, a war of words broke out between Cruz and rival Donald Trump. A pro-Cruz Super-Pac published a nude photo of Trumps wife Melania on Facebook ads in Utah ahead of the states caucus.
Trump_2016.03.23_anti-Trump-ad-slut-shames-wife-Melania
Trump angrily warned Cruz on Twitter, Lyin Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad. Be careful, Lyin Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife!
Left-leaning blog Crooks and Liars has speculated about the timing of events, noting Katrina Piersons connection between Trump and Cruz.
The pictures they weakly disguise are pretty easy to match up with people, C&J notes. The image above suggests that Katrina Pierson is one of his so-called mistresses, as well as others.
It feels to me like Trump dropped a whole lot of garbage over at the Enquirer to discredit Ted Cruz, and that sense is backed up even more by the fact that one of the lovely ladies is supposedly Donald Trumps spokeswoman.
UPDATE: Donald Trump issued a Facebook response to the scandal late Friday:
I have no idea whether or not the cover story about Ted Cruz in this weeks 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.
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. Ted Cruzs problem with the National Enquirer is his and his alone, and while they were right about O.J. Simpson, John Edwards, and many others, I certainly hope they are not right about Lyin Ted Cruz.
I look forward to spending the week in Wisconsin, winning the Republican nomination and ultimately the Presidency in order to Make America Great Again.
Donald J. Trump
So THAT’s what “REAL Christians” and “PRINICIPLED CONSERVATIVES” do: Play around and when caught make EXCUSES for it!
Paging Jimmy Swaggart - Paging Jimmy Swaggart!!
That smoke is starting to have some brighter color to it.....
In a New York minute.
Beaver hunting is a big deal with Canadians.
[[So you folks are so blind that you think the National Enquirer is a reliable news source?]]
Not only that but they insist that Ted take full responsibility when someone somewhere who has ever had any contact with him whatsoever, says or does something bad, but when a good pal of donald trump, runs a hit piece of ted, why then this fella can’t possibly be tied to donald (despite the NE doing another hit piece on carson on behalf of trump not long ago)
Some behind scenes facts as to why Ineligible Preacher Teds sex capades didnt come out in February ..
NOTE - THIS PIECE IS NOT WRITTEN BY BEN SHAPIRO, BREITBART, OR THE DAILY WIRE
LAST UPDATED 3/25/2016 4:10PM PST
~ BEN SHAPIRO, #CRUZSEXSCANDAL, AND THE WILKS BROTHERS ~
Many people in the conservative, libertarian, and alt-right movements are familiar with journalist, radio host, and author Ben Shapiro. He has risen to prominence through his work at Breitbart, hosting a popular radio show on KTTH and a morning show on KTLA, and confronting liberals in the media- from Dr. Drew to Piers Morgan.
However, the 2016 election cycle has brought out the bad side of Ben Shapiro. He has exposed himself to not be the principled, honest truth-teller many thought he was- instead, he has shown himself to be just another bought and paid for pundit, masquerading as an edgy facts dont care about your feelings conservative while constantly putting his own self interest (and that of Israel) above the truth.
Below you will find the facts that make the case against Mr. Ben Shapiro.
~ THE DAILY WIRE ~
In 2015, after being ousted from Truth Revolt, Ben Shapiro was hired as Editor in Chief of a new news site- The Daily Wire. Presenting itself as a conservative-leaning mashup of Drudge Report and Buzzfeed, TDW looked to be just another cookie cutter clickbait site. The site itself isnt that interesting- the interesting part is who owns it.
The Daily Wire is owned by Forward Publishing, LLC. This name probably means nothing to you- neither do the Wilks brothers, Forwards owners.
The Wilks brothers, who own the Daily Wire, are fracking billionaires and major Cruz donors. Like $10+ million to Cruz Super Pac major (the sources for all of this information is listed below). They obviously have a vested interest in seeing their candidate succeed, and if they are investing in a news site, they are going to hire the Editor in Chief who will do his best to make that happen.
That Editor in Chief is, of course, Mr. Ben Shapiro.
It doesnt take much digging to find numerous Daily Wire hit pieces against Trump. Written in the typical clickbaity style, youll NEVER BELIEVE what Shapiros team is able to warp out of context and use to slander Trump. I will allow you to find these articles on your own. It shouldnt take long.
Not surprising, then, that Daily Wire was one of the first organizations to try to discredit the #CruzSexScandal by labeling it as a Trump campaign lie (when Trumps campaign actually had nothing to do with it).
~ BREITBART: MICHELLE FIELDS ~
So, Shapiro is a hired gun for the Cruz camp. Not surprising- this is fairly common practice in media. Im not faulting Shapiro for doing what his employers want and trying to take out Trump- thats to be expected.
Where this story takes an invidious turn is when Shapiro was Editor at Large for Breitbart. At a campaign rally in March 2016, Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields was allegedly almost thrown to the ground by Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski (source below). Obviously this is a major investigation, and responsible reporters would investigate it before blowing it up- well, not Ben Shapiro.
Shapiro immediately took the story and ran with it, accusing Lewandowski of assaulting Fields and demanding his immediate resignation. Never mind that video evidence disproved Fields and Shapiros claim. Never mind that Shapiro, not a year earlier, had ridiculed the listen and believe logic used by college feminists to attack male students. This story, if true, would hurt Trump. Shapiro needed it to stick.
Well, it didnt. Video came out and showed Fields lied about the incident. Lewandowski was exonerated by the media- which wouldve loved nothing more than a huge Trump scandal!- and it was all put to rest.
Not good enough for Ben Shapiro. Angry about how his pet project hit piece failed, he took to clickbait kings Buzzfeed to announce he was taking his toys and going home- and taking Fields with him. They both resigned, and the story got buried on Buzzfeed below hard-hitting journalism and 5 HILARIOUS cat gifs.
This demonstrates how much Shapiro is willing to sacrifice to trash Trump.
~ BREITBART: THE COVERUP ~
Shapiro committing career seppuku isnt the story here. A coverup, on the other hand, is.
On February 2 2016, Breitbart journalist Allum Bokhari (@LibertarianBlue on twitter) tweeted about big Cruz news coming soon. He had written the piece for Breitbart, and the bombshell was being delayed by the editors at Breitbart. Editors that included, presumably, Editor at Large Ben Shapiro.
There was temporary hype on Twitter, people were excited, and even Milo Yiannopolous vouched for Bokhari, promising that it would be huge news. And then, the story disappeared, and no one heard anything more about it.
That changed on March 7 when Bokhari tweeted that the bombshell had been released, and a satirical piece about Ted Cruz favorite My Little Pony character was posted on Breitbart. Bokhari tweeted the piece, claiming it was the news that he had been sitting on. He even tweeted the following:
Despite @benshapiros best efforts to suppress it, the truth about Cruz is finally out:
Now, maybe this is a joke, but I find it highly unlikely that Bokhari- an intelligent guy- would build up attention a MONTH ahead of releasing a major bombshell, go radio silent, and then put out the MLP piece. It just isnt probable. Many were skeptical about what really happened, and after #CruzSexScandal broke in late March, Bokhari tweeted this:
I hate getting scooped.
This tweet cast much more doubt about the nature of Bokharis bombshell, and what really happened with the Breitbart editorial staff. Was the Cruz scandal the piece that Bokhari had written? Did he leak the info to National Enquirer? If so, why?
The answer may be simple.
~ HOW IT FITS TOGETHER ~
In his capacity at Breitbart, Shapiro had control and influence over what pieces got published and what pieces didnt. It is not completely unreasonable to assume that he acted in the best interests of his bosses at Daily Wire and did what he could to protect their candidate, Senator Cruz.
Did Bokharis piece get scrapped by Ben Shapiro in order to protect his investors favorite candidate? There are no concrete answers, and no definitive proof- but this seems to be the most probable answer. Ben demonstrated during the Fields incident that he was willing to disregard facts and evidence to take down his oppositions candidate.
I dont know what happened between Allum Bokhari and Ben Shapiro. Hell, I dont even know if the Cruz scandal is true or not.
What I do know is that in his capacity at Breitbart, Shapiro had the ability and motive to censor any potential Cruz bombshells, and five mistresses would certainly count.
And on that bombshell, I leave you to consider the evidence and reach your own conclusions.
UPDATE 3/25 2:49 PST // A screenshot has been posted on /pol/ purporting to be a conversation between anon and Milo Yiannopolous on Twitter. Milo confirms that this is The Thing (a term Rubio insiders used to describe Cruz scandal) and that Shapiro was trying to suppress it. Will update with imgur link.
13 posted on 3/26/2016, 5:59:25 PM by ak267
Can you point one out to me>? There’s a bunch of stuff on him. Which should I read?
Bogie
Looks like he belongs in the slammer, sitting next to Hillary.
“I think this actually helps Cruz”.
Bazarro world thing.
That and I would have expected a much more aggressive condemnation of the NE accusations poitedly denying point by point the article claims.
Instead we got clever lawyer speak obfuscations and the blaming of Trump.
Ted talks to them in tongues. Or with his serpent.
This is all so nasty.
Okay, sorry. I se you retracted your first statement.
I am waiting to see how this turns out. The National Enquirer has been right before and they have been wrong too. If it is true I cannot wait to see how Cruz tries to slime his way out of it and I suspect some Cruz supporters will try to blame Trump for making Saint Ted go astray back in 2012 or whatever. TDS is awesome to watch.
I'm shocked.
“For all we know, they had an understanding, or even approved of extra marital affairs while apart”
That’s what Jesus approved of? /s
In the end, I don’t think it helps either one.
I fear it helps the Dems more than anything. Why can’t the GOP arsehole spend money and put moles inside Dem operations and get Hillary and Bernie at each other?
Damn
National Enquirer isn’t the only source on this, and John Edwards could tell you about the Enquirer. Looks like blindness is endemic among Cruz boosters.
So now you are calling 80% of Free Republic gay now huh?
yea and Bill Clinton “denied” it as well....on live TV.
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