Cruz urges criminal investigation into Twitter

In Neon Nettle, Jay Greenberg reports in part that U.S. Senator Ted Cruz

has called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Treasury Department to investigate Twitter over allegations the company breached U.S. sanctions against Iran. On Friday, Cruz wrote a letter to the Departments urging a criminal investigation into the social media giant for potential criminal activity related to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. According to Cruz, Twitter may have committed sanctionable actions prohibited by Executive Order 13876. Cruz wrote to Attorney General William Barr and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin regarding the allegations. The letter states that Cruz informed Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey early this year that:“Twitter and its principals face criminal liability and sanctions exposure for providing social media accounts to Iranian persons designated as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) pursuant to E.O. 13876.”

READ MORE: https://neonnettle.com/news/11478-ted-cruz-calls-on-doj-to-investigate-twitter-for-breaching-iran-sanctions
© Neon Nettle

Senator Ted Cruz questions FBI Director Wray about the Bureau's work against Antifa, and Chinese economic espionage.

Cruz endorses Trump

Ted Cruz endorsed Donald Trump Friday evening on Facebook. Russell Berman reports in The Atlantic,

The Texas senator announced his support for the Republican nominee late Friday afternoon in a Facebook post, writing that the possibility of a Hillary Clinton presidency was “wholly unacceptable” and that he was keeping his year-old commitment to back the party’s choice. Cruz listed six policy-focused reasons why he was backing Trump, beginning with the importance of appointing conservatives to the Supreme Court and citing Trump’s recently expanded list of potential nominees. Other reasons included Obamacare—which Trump has vowed to repeal—immigration, national security, and Trump’s newfound support for Cruz’s push against an Obama administration move to relinquish U.S. oversight of an internet master directory of web addresses.

Read more here.

Did Cruz follow the paths of Nelson Rockefeller and George Romney?

Lexington Green writes at Chicago Boyz,

Rockefeller and Romney, rising stars, refused to back the doomed Goldwater bid in 1964. They ended their careers by trying to save them, by disloyalty. Two guys who fought for the team in 1964, knowing it was doomed, earned the respect of the party faithful and each went on to dominate the party and be elected and reelected in 49 state landslides — Nixon and Reagan. There is a right and a wrong way to play it when there are intra-party differences. You respect the voters and you respect the process, you fight for yourself in the primaries, and when you lose you fight for the team, you take the hit for the team, and your teammates remember your loyalty and reward it. Ted Cruz is a fool, who apparently thinks he can help Hillary win, then be in position to win in 2020. But he has shown brutal disloyalty, and even violated an express, public pledge to back the nominee. He can never be trusted again. He has, I hope, destroyed his political future. I liked Ted, if he won I would have supported him. But there is no going back from this decision.

...This is what Ted should have said:

I took a pledge to support the party’s nominee.

I will keep that pledge.

I would be lying to you if I said this is easy.

My race against Donald Trump became personal, and ugly, and painful, in ways I won’t repeat tonight.

Many people who supported me, people close to me, people I love, cannot forgive him.

And I understand that.

But there is too much at stake to dwell on the past.

The race is over, it’s in the history books now.

And the history of America’s future is unwritten.

It is up to us to write it, together.

What we need to do as a party is come together, and find the conservative values we do share.

What we need to do as a party is come together, no matter how bitter the race was, no matter how much we may disagree, no matter what personal animosities we may still feel, and defeat Hillary Clinton.

So, my fellow Americans, my fellow Republicans, tonight I keep my pledge, and I endore my party’s nominee for President, Donald J. Trump.

Read more here.

Rules of engagement

Ace of Spades has this to say about Ted Cruz's choice not to endorse Donald Trump.

Now the Trumptards (not all people are Trumptards, but man, are there some Trumptards) are freaking out that Ted Cruz is slighting the dignity of Orange Julius Caesar by refusing to endorse him explicitly.

You know, after Trump called his wife ugly and said his dad might have plugged Kennedy.

The Trumptards think that Ted Cruz should submit to the Might of Trump and bend the knee.

...Trump treated Cruz viciously enough that Cruz is completely disburdened of the obligation of supporting him. At some point, you've insulted your way out of an endorsement.

Trump picked the Rules of Engagement. He has to live with him.

Read more here.

Trump hires Cruz's senior communications adviser to be his senior adviser for communications

Bloomberg reports,

Donald Trump has landed a Republican operative to be his new senior adviser for communications, a move meant to further professionalize his unconventional campaign.

Jason Miller, who was the senior communications adviser for Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign, will take the lead role over the Trump campaign’s message and interactions with the news media.

Read more here.

Helping politicians who stood with us

At Ace of Spades blogger Y-not wants to do something constructive.

In recent days I've seen posturing by some politicians who, in their effort to get in the good graces of conservative voters, have over-inflated how much they Fought Trump (or helped Ted Cruz and the other non-Trumps). One example is Ben Sasse who seems to think we have very short memories or that we live in an age pre-Google. Senator Sasse did NOT endorse Ted Cruz and I'm offended that he (and some of his supporters) is trying to imply otherwise.

Whether or not Senator Sasse should suffer any electoral consequences over his Brave Sir Robin profile in courage is up to Nebraskans. Certainly he was not the worst offender in the spineless twit department, although he played it pretty coy in my book, but whatever.

The point of this post is actually not to punish the Ben Sasses of the world - or even the Mitch McConnells - but rather to see if we can reward the politicians who stood for us by endorsing and/or campaigning for Cruz (or your favorite non-Trump).

Here's the list of current politicians who endorsed Ted Cruz from FiveThirtyEight. I bolded the names of those Senators and Governors who are up for reelection this year. (Obviously all of the Congressional seats are in play.) The dates in the first column refer to when they endorsed Cruz. (I've re-ordered them by home state to make it easier for you to spot your elected officials.)
11/9/15 Mo Brooks REP. (R-ALA.)

3/20 Matt Salmon REP. (R-ARIZ.)
3/16 D. Schweikert REP. (R-ARIZ.)
3/11 Trent Franks REP. (R-ARIZ.)
1/12 Paul A. Gosar REP. (R-ARIZ.)

1/14 Tom McClintock REP. (R-CALIF.)
11/19/15 Rohrabacher REP. (R-CALIF.)

4/27 Cory Gardner SEN. (R-COLO.)
4/9 Doug Lamborn REP. (R-COLO.)
1/20/15 Ken Buck REP. (R-COLO.)

8/6/15 Jody Hice REP. (R-GA.)

4/29 Mike Pence GOV. (R-IND.)

4/6 James E. Risch SEN. (R-IDAHO)
2/16 Raul Labrador REP. (R-IDAHO)

11/16/15 Steve King REP. (R-IOWA)

2/16 Tim Huelskamp REP. (R-KAN.)

2/23 Justin Amash REP. (R-MICH.)

3/7 Phil Bryant GOV. (R-MISS.)

3/11 Ann Wagner REP. (R-MO.)
12/7 Sam Graves REP. (R-MO.)

7/18/15 J.Bridenstine REP. (R-OKLA.)

1/27 Mark Meadows REP. (R-N.C.)

3/17 Lindsey Graham SEN. (R-S.C.)
3/16 Nikki R. Haley GOV. (R-S.C.)
2/19 Mark Sanford REP. (R-S.C.)
2/2 Jeff Duncan REP. (R-S.C.)

4/8 Joe Barton REP. (R-TEXAS)
3/17 Jeb Hensarling REP. (R-TEXAS)
2/23 Greg Abbott GOV. (R-TEXAS)
2/22 Roger Williams REP. (R-TEXAS)
1/11 Sam Johnson REP. (R-TEXAS)
7/2/15 Brian Babin REP. (R-TEXAS)
5/21/15 M. Burgess REP. (R-TEXAS)
5/21/15 John Ratcliffe REP. (R-TEXAS)
5/21/15 L. Gohmert REP. (R-TEXAS)
4/17/15 J. Culberson REP. (R-TEXAS)
9/28/15 Randy Weber REP. (R-TEXAS)

3/22 Mia Love REP. (R-UTAH)
3/21 Gary Herbert GOV. (R-UTAH)
3/10 Mike Lee SEN. (R-UTAH)

1/12 Alex Mooney REP. (R-W.VA.)

4/2 Reid Ribble REP. (R-WIS.)
3/29 Scott Walker GOV. (R-WIS.)
3/11 G. Grothman REP. (R-WIS.)

In light of Trump surrogate Sarah Palin's remarks about Speaker Ryan, who indicated that he was withholding his support from Trump for the time being, I've decided to add Paul Ryan to my list of candidates I'll support. Although I suspect Ryan's non-dorsement has an expiration date, I am sick and tired of the implication that opposing the sometime Republican, never conservative front-runner is a betrayal of America and that any who oppose the would-be strongman are enemies who must be purged.

Read more here.

Trump's "ridiculous, shameful, uncorroborated" claims about Cruz's father

CNN's Jake Tapper called out Donald Trump for making shameful accusations about Ted Cruz's father this morning. Tré Goins-Phillips writes at The Blaze,

At the start of his program Tuesday, CNN host Jake Tapper debunked Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s “ridiculous” and “shameful” claim that Ted Cruz’s father was connected to Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin who killed President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

Trump’s claim came during a phone-in interview on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” Tuesday morning, when the billionaire businessman mentioned a recent tabloid story claiming the mystery man in a 1963 photo of Oswald and others is actually Cruz’s father, Rafael.

“His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald’s being — you know, shot. I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous,” Trump said. “What is this, right prior to his being shot, and nobody even brings it up. They don’t even talk about that. That was reported, and nobody talks about it.”

Tapper responded to the front-runner’s comments, telling viewers that the report Trump pushed is both “bizarre” and “completely uncorroborated.” The report was originally published by The National Enquirer, which has endorsed Trump and is published by a close friend of the New York real estate mogul.

It is important to note there is no evidence to suggest the photo does, in fact, feature Cruz’s father and, in addition, Cruz’s dad has said the man in the picture is not him.

“I cannot believe I need to say the following,” Tapper said, “but here it goes: There is no corroborated evidence that Ted Cruz’s father ever met Lee Harvey Oswald, or, for that matter, any other presidential assassin. We in the media don’t talk about it because there’s no evidence of it.”

He continued, “Any suggestion that Cruz’s father played a role in the Kennedy assassination is ridiculous and, frankly, shameful. Now, that’s not an anti-Trump position or a pro-Cruz position — it’s a pro-truth position.”

Watch Tapper here.

Some statistics

Harry Enten writes at Five Thirty Eight blog,

We often talk about the “base” of the Republican primary. I don’t know what the base exactly is, but I’ve often heard it described as the ideological base (i.e. very conservative voters). Well, that base is not in love with Trump. Even as he wins easily in Indiana, he’s losing self-described very conservative Republican primary voters 54 percent to 41 percent. Moreover, Trump is losing those who attend church at least once a week 63 percent to 28 percent. It’ll be interesting to see how these very conservative and very religious voters react to Trump’s nomination. Cruz himself gave them little direction in his speech this evening.

At the same blog Carl Bialik adds,

Trump’s challenge getting the support of women voters continued in Indiana. He won just 47 percent of women, according to the exit polls, compared to 59 percent of men. He still won the plurality of women voters, but his lead was just 6 percentage points over Cruz, compared to a lead of 26 percentage points over Cruz among men.

Dick Morris analyzes the Cruz pick of Carly Fiorina.

He doubts it will help Cruz much in Indiana, but believes it is good for the country. He also has a warning about a United Nations end run around Congress to bring to America 200,000 Syrian refugees.
Read, watch and listen to more here.

Will Trump take the bait?

Will Trump take the Cruz bait and verbally abuse Carly Fiorina, like he did earlier in the primaries? Jonathan Tobin writes for Commentary,

...No matter what Trump says about Fiorina, it won’t discourage his core supporters. But it could halt the drift toward surrender to Trump by mainstream Republican officials and officeholders that are coming to the not unreasonable conclusion that further resistance is futile. By rendering himself toxic at a stage when he ought to be at least pretending to act in a presidential manner, it won’t help him no matter how much his fans love the insults directed at the former Hewlett-Packard CEO.

At the very least, Cruz may be giving himself another week of space to prove to his party that a Trump victory isn’t as inevitable as it seems today. Trump would be wise to keep his mouth shut about Fiorina. But that is not a skill he seems to possess. If he does take the bait, it may win some more news cycles for Cruz and slow, if not altogether halt, his progress toward a first ballot victory.

Read more here.

Assassination by innuendo

Influential Trump supporter Michael Savage speaks out on the National Enquirer story. He says he has a source who he "trusts with his life," who has spoken to people at The Enquirer, and the source told Savage's trusted source, "It's all innuendo." The Enquirer's boss, David Pecker of AMI, owns The Enquirer, The Globe, and The Star, and Pecker has been personally involved in the effort to smear Cruz. Pecker travels to Florida on Trump's jet. If Trump finds out that Pecker is behind this smear, he should disavow Pecker immediately. I may withdraw my support from anyone in this campaign. I am not going to support anyone who engages in assassination by innuendo."

I know that many Trump supporters are listeners to Michael Savage, and trust Savage completely. If he disavows support for Trump, Trump will be hurt significantly.

Responses from two of the women, Cruz, and Trump

Ben Shapiro writes this morning at The Daily Wire,

Katrina Pierson, another Of The National Enquirer’s Women, Has Denied The Story. Pierson, you may recall, is Trump’s campaign press spokeswoman. She would have every interest in confirming the story, given that it would put an end to Cruz’s presidential hopes and, indeed, his entire career. Yet here’s what she’s tweeted this morning about the Enquirer story: "Of course the National Enquirer story is 100% FALSE!!! I only speak to myself, however." and, "What's worse? People who actually believe the trash in tabloids, or the ones who know it's false &spread it anyway? #stupidity on all levels"

Amanda Carpenter is another one of the National Enquirer's women. She responded,

What’s out there is tabloid trash. If someone wants to comment on it, they can talk to my lawyer, it is categorically false, you should be ashamed for spreading this kind of smut, Donald Trump supporters should be held to account for it, and I will not be intimidated, I will continue to make my thoughts known about Donald Trump, and I am not backing down.

Ted Cruz's response:

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.

Donald Trump's response:

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.

Read more here.

Ted Cruz gets angry

"Let's Make a Deal" time?

Dick Morris says this morning that the big question now is whether Cruz or Kasich will make a move toward the other in order to stop Trump from getting the nomination. Will Cruz offer Kasich Vice President? If Kasich frees his delegates to vote for Cruz, then Cruz and Trump go into the convention with similar vote totals. But maybe Kasich prefers Trump, or maybe Trump makes a deal with Kasich before Cruz does. Then it is all over for Cruz. Watch the Morris video here.

Down to three

Mano y mano

More from Steve Deace: Cruz should ignore Kasich. Make it mano y mano between Trump and himself. Trump is not nearly as knowledgeable about the issues facing the country as is Cruz. Cruz should challenge Trump's manhood, acknowledge that this is a steel cage match, street fight. Beat him man to man, alpha to alpha. Challenge him, pin him down on the issues. Use that challenge to his manhood to pivot to specifics about issues. Can Cruz do it?

Street fight

Steve Deace is all in for Ted Cruz. I just caught a few minutes of Deace's radio show tonight. He is beginning to wonder if Ted Cruz understands the "game" that he is in with Donald Trump. Deace says it is a street fight, and "you can't have a debate at a street fight." He wants Cruz to throw down.

What do you think? Marco Rubio tried it, and in short time he was out of the street fight. Although, I found myself liking Rubio much better these last two or three weeks.

Trump is used to street fights. He doesn't win them all, but if his opponent does not understand how to win a street fight, he can't win a street fight.

Will Kasich and Cruz get in each other's way?

Julia Azari writes at Five Thirty Eight,

Cruz has a significant following among conservative leaders. So there may be at least two kinds of races going on there — a “stop Trump” race and a “stop Trump and Cruz/nominate an establishment candidate” one.

The important question that remains is whether there’s a “nominate Kasich” movement. One possible lesson from the last eight months or so is that campaigns might actually matter. If this is true, then a single, focused “establishment lane” campaign could make a difference going forward. But if we simply see a “stop Trump” campaign in which Kasich and Cruz get in each other’s way, then it will probably be a two-person race pretty quickly. But not for very long.

Who will get media coverage this week?

Nate Silver writes at Five Thirty Eight,

But in terms of the media coverage of the next few weeks of the campaign, notching a win somewhere could be important for Cruz. My guess is that Kasich will get a lot of attention for having won Ohio, despite it being his home state and his not really having a path to the nomination before the convention. Trump got big wins in Florida and Illinois, meanwhile, while Rubio will make headlines by having dropped out. That’s not a lot of news cycles left for Cruz, who will need to make up some ground to claim winner-take-all Arizona next week.