An unverified, thinly sourced tabloid report alleging Ted Cruz had engaged in several extramarital affairs went largely unnoticed last week until billionaire businessman Donald Trump and the Texas lawmaker himself weighed in to comment on the story.
Since then, the National Enquirer’s Cruz report has earned 15 minutes and 27 seconds of airtime from the major networks, including ABC, NBC and CBS News, according to data compiled by the Media Research Center. The alleged Cruz scandal was covered for a total of three minutes and 44 seconds Monday morning, in addition to the 11 minutes and 43 seconds the story got over the weekend.
The tabloid story, which alleged Cruz had as many as five separate affairs, offered no proof of its claim and presented the thinnest of sources.
“It is garbage, complete and utter lies,” the senator told reporters last week in Wisconsin. “It is a tabloid smear and it has come from Donald Trump and his henchmen.”
At least two of the women supposedly involved in the story have since disavowed totally that they were ever engaged in a sexual relationship with the Texas lawmaker.
Though the major networks mostly ignored the story when it first hit newsstands Thursday morning, they were compelled later to cover it after the candidates themselves weighed in on the supposed controversy.
“On Monday, ABC’s Good Morning America reporters trumpeted the allegations, for which there is no on-the-record source or any other confirming information, for two minutes and 15 seconds,” MRC reported. “CBS This Morning‘s Dana Jacobson on Monday followed a similar track. … CBS added 58 seconds on the National Enquirer report.”
“Over on NBC’s Today … [they] devoted 31 seconds on the topic,” the report added.
And that was just for Monday.
In total, from Friday through Monday, “ABC focused on the tabloid allegations for seven minutes and 16 seconds. NBC came in second with six minutes and six seconds. CBS’s coverage resulted in two minutes and five seconds,” MRC reported.
“On Friday, only CBS refrained from covering the tabloid smear. ABC and NBC both pushed it,” the report added. “By Saturday, all the networks were covering it. Good Morning America‘s Devin Dwyer scolded both Cruz and Trump as guilty: ‘On one of the most solemn days of the year for Christians, Good Friday, the Republican front-runners descended into a battle over sleaze.'”
Cruz accused longtime Trump supporter and political operative Roger Stone, who appears in the National Enquirer story, of being behind the report. The senator and 2016 GOP candidate also said Trump was “terrified to engage in a debate right now,” and has chosen instead to, “[hide] out in Trump Tower” while insulting people on Twitter.
This is the longest that the casino tycoon has been away from the campaign trail since first announcing his candidacy in June 2015.
