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.
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.
Exactumndo. I’m getting BJ Clinton flashbacks here: “It depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is.” What a piece of work Rafael Cruz is.
That is just where we are today.
How far back will it be walked? Does it matter that Trump’s accusation was apparently false? If he was wrong then, how do you claim he is right now?
The accuser just changed his story. That matters, doesn’t it?
I guess that would make Jeff Roe a ratf*cker too.
At least Stone hasn’t driven anyone to suicide.
It was on here. I do not remember if it were a thread or just a post.
That is exactly what they are referring to. He says the smears are false, he doesn’t say “I have been only faithful to my wife and was not involved in these or any other affairs or other form of marital cheating”. He didn’t say that at all, and he spent far more effort in focusing on Trump and attacking, then on saying that he was innocent.
Duck Dynasty Phil Robertson might be changing his mind about Lyin’ Ted
http://endingthefed.com/duck-dynasty-phil-robertson-might-be-changing-his-mind-about-lyin-ted.html
If Trump don’t watch out he will start losing the supporters of Ted Cruz and that will not be good if he gets the nomination
Did you read the article? Cruz refuses to deny he had affairs and instead chooses to smear Trump. Given that behavior by Cruz: Why are you still standing by your man?
After spending dozens of hours as a deponent by the largest law firm in the world, I can say that Sen. Cruz’s response is all misdirection and evasion.
Let’s look at the denials:
Cruz: “These attacks are garbage” ...what constitutes garbage?
Cruz: “These smears are completely false” ...what smears is the Senator making reference?
Cruz: “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” ...does “complete and utter lies” refer to the opening paragraph: “Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is the target of a ‘dirty tricks’ campaign!
Wouldn’t a simple flat denial of ANY marital infidelity in 15 years of marriage simply sufficed?
Pretty weird, though, for a political candidate to volunteer that he doesn’t wish to copulate with his (same sex and rodent-like) opponent.
The accuser just changed his story. That matters, doesn’t it?
Cruz is not denying he had affairs. Why doesn’t that matter to you? Seems a pretty straight forward response and Cruz refuses to do it.
Well, that’s certainly one unique way of saying ‘Ted is a sex crazed poodle’.
With the list of conquests growing, I would suggest,...Raphael “The Cuban Stallion” Cruz...may be a more appropriate moniker.
We know Trump wasn’t behind it. Many sources have confirmed Rubio was behind it, and many have confirmed they all had the story. Roger Stone interviewed a few weeks ago that he had already been approached by many media outlets asking him to comment and he would not comment.
So knowing all of this: Cruz uses his own scandal to lie about the facts & try and smear Trump and involve him in the dirty side of Cruz’s own sex scandal.
What a total opportunist..! Anything to win, even exploiting his own brewing scandal!
Wow.
He has. On multiple occasions. Adamantly. You simply choose to not listen, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
Maybe RATs.
Take it from Monica's boyfriend...democRAT girls are easy.
Didn’t you know that Cruz is just like Barky? Only other people are accountable, not him.
Therein lies the stink that won't go away. He's TOAST!
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