MSNBC’s Ari Melber debuted an audio recording of Senator Ted Cruz acknowledging that facts would be needed to prove any type of election fraud in 2020.
Cruz’s words in the audio recording — obtained by former Fox News producer turned whistleblower Abby Grossberg — conflicted with his public plea to investigate the ballot count out of consideration for those who felt it possible since Trump lost.
“It can’t just be, you know, somebody tweeted that there’s got to be demonstrable facts that can be laid out with evidence because that’s what a court of law is gonna look to, not just an allegation, but actual facts,” Cruz said in the recording of a call with Maria Bartiromo from Nov. 7, 2020. “And so I hope when Rudy comes on the show tomorrow, he had some of those facts, and I hope the legal team continues to lay out the specific evidence because that’s what it’s going to take to prevail in court.”
Melber noted that Cruz seems more “tethered to reality” than in his public life. The MSNBC also fact checked that these legal proceedings are what is par for the course of a court of law investigating election fraud.
“It sounds like in a diplomatic way in that November call, Senator Cruz already knew that there had been no public information suggesting that there were facts to support overturn the election, that he was even skeptical them coming up short in court,” Melber said. “In a way, you’re hearing a reasoned and diplomatic version of ‘Hey, get ready to lose’ and they did. The Trump team lost all those cases.”
Melber then played a public appearance of Cruz on Jan. 6, 2021 in which the senator “used his power” to vote against certifying the Biden election in the absence of the facts he described on the phone.
“I want to speak to the Republicans who are considering voting against these objections. I understand your concerns, but I urge you to pause and think what does it say to the nearly half the country that believes this election was rigged if we vote not even to consider the claims of illegality and fraud in this election?” Cruz said.
You can watch Ari Melber’s report in the video at the top.