User:Geo Swan/Ted Cruz extramarital affairs allegation

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The Ted Cruz extramarital affairs allegation was an incident in the United States presidential election, 2016.

Early story

On March 25, 2016, the National Enquirer published a report that then presidential hopeful Ted Cruz had been involved in extramarital affairs with five different women.[1] The report prompted a quick denial from Cruz who immediately declaimed the story as "complete and utter lies" and blamed Donald Trump for "planting" the report, a claim which Trump denied while also noting that the National Enquirer had originally broke the story of John Edwards' extramarital affairs.[1][2][3] News of the allegations, and of Cruz's denial, was reported by USA Today, Vanity Fair, Newsweek, Politico, New York Magazine, the Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Mashable, and others.[1][4][2][5][6][7]

Later developments

The story developed late in the day on March 25, 2016 with a subsequent investigation by The Daily Beast that discovered allies of Marco Rubio had been circulating information regarding Cruz's sexual history to the New York Times and Washington Post for the previous six months. [8]

Social media reaction

Speculation that the alleged affair resulted in an alleged payment of $500,000 in "hush money" by the Cruz campaign later became a trending topic on Twitter under the hashtag "#CruzSexScandal". In July 2015, a Ted Cruz-affiliated Super PAC, Keep the Promise I, gave $500,000 to rival Carly Fiorina’s presidential campaign. The Washington Post at the time noted that the donation was “unusual", but social media commenters noted that a Fiorina staffer was one of the Cruz's alleged mistresses.[9][10]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 David Weigel (25 March 2016). "Cruz: National Enquirer story is ‘garbage’ from ‘Donald Trump and his henchmen’". Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/03/25/cruz-national-enquirer-story-is-garbage-from-donald-trump-and-his-henchmen/. Retrieved 25 March 2016. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Cruz Alleges Trump Planted Affair Story". The Daily Beast. http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/03/25/cruz-alleges-trump-planted-affair-story.html. Retrieved 25 March 2016. 
  3. Kaufman, Scott (25 March 2016). "Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson tweets unconvincing non-denial of involvement in #CruzSexScandal". Salon magazine. http://www.salon.com/2016/03/25/trump_spokeswoman_katrina_pierson_tweets_unconvincing_non_denial_of_involvement_in_cruzsexscandal/. Retrieved 25 March 2016. 
  4. "Ted Cruz denies rumors of affairs, blames Trump for 'tabloid smear'". Mashable. 25 March 2016. http://mashable.com/2016/03/25/ted-cruz-affair-rumors/#dXSpTIhbckq2. Retrieved 25 March 2016. 
  5. Tina Nguyen (25 March 2016). "Ted Cruz Accuses Donald Trump of Planting National Enquirer Story About Extramarital Affairs". Vanity Fair. http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/03/ted-cruz-affairs-mistresses. Retrieved 25 March 2016. 
  6. Taylor Wofford (25 March 2016). "DONALD TRUMP: 'I HAD ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO' WITH NATIONAL ENQUIRER STORY ABOUT TED CRUZ". Newsweek. http://europe.newsweek.com/ted-cruz-national-enquirer-donald-trump-garbage-440808?rm=eu. Retrieved 25 March 2016. 
  7. Jen Kirby (25 March 2016). "National Enquirer — Which Just Happens to Have Ties to Trump — Says Cruz Has Had 5 Affairs". New York Magazine. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/03/national-enquirer-claims-ted-cruz-had-affairs.html. Retrieved 25 March 2016. 
  8. Asawin Suebsaeng, Betsy Woodruff (2016-03-25). "Ted Cruz ‘Affair’ Rumors Peddled by Marco Rubio’s Allies". Daily Beast. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/25/ted-cruz-affair-rumors-peddled-by-marco-rubio-s-allies.html. Retrieved 2016-04-06. 
  9. Anthoney Bennett (25 March 2016). "Did Ted Cruz Pay ‘Hush Money’ to Carly Fiorina Over #CruzSexScandal?". Heavy. http://heavy.com/news/2016/03/ted-cruz-hush-money-carly-fiorina-sex-scandal-affair-sarah-isgur-flores/. Retrieved 25 March 2016. 
  10. Scott Eric Kaufman (2015-03-25). "Twitter just lost its God damned mind over Ted #CruzSexScandal-mongering: Sure, it's enough to put you off sex forever, but it's news, and needs to be reported". Salon magazine. http://www.salon.com/2016/03/25/twitter_just_lost_its_god_damned_mind_over_ted_cruzsexscandal_mongering/. Retrieved 2016-04-06.