Ted Cruz Fails To Disclose Loans From Goldman Sachs And Citibank For 2012 Senate Campaign

NY Times: Cruz Took Out $1 Million In Loans, Which Were “Not Disclosed In Campaign Finance Reports.” A pair of reports from The New York Times on January 13 and January 15 revealed that Ted Cruz violated election law by failing to disclose “a large loan from Goldman Sachs, where Mrs. Cruz works,” to the FEC, as well as a second loan from Citibank for his 2012 senatorial campaign. The two loans, which together “totaled as much as $750,000 and eventually increased to a maximum of $1 million,” were not included in campaign finance reports during his 2012 Senate campaign as required. The Times added that “there would have been nothing improper about Mr. Cruz obtaining bank loans for his campaign, as long as they were disclosed. But such a disclosure might have conveyed the wrong impression for his candidacy” because he was campaigning as a populist who “liquidate[d his] net worth” to run against the establishment:

As Ted Cruz tells it, the story of how he financed his upstart campaign for the United States Senate four years ago is an endearing example of loyalty and shared sacrifice between a married couple.

“Sweetheart, I'd like us to liquidate our entire net worth, liquid net worth, and put it into the campaign,” he says he told his wife, Heidi, who readily agreed.

But the couple's decision to pump more than $1 million into Mr. Cruz's successful Tea Party-darling Senate bid in Texas was made easier by a large loan from Goldman Sachs, where Mrs. Cruz works. That loan was not disclosed in campaign finance reports.

Those reports show that in the critical weeks before the May 2012 Republican primary, Mr. Cruz -- currently a leading contender for his party's presidential nomination -- put “personal funds” totaling $960,000 into his Senate campaign. Two months later, shortly before a scheduled runoff election, he added more, bringing the total to $1.2 million -- “which is all we had saved,” as Mr. Cruz described it in an interview with The New York Times several years ago.

A review of personal financial disclosures that Mr. Cruz filed later with the Senate does not find a liquidation of assets that would have accounted for all the money he spent on his campaign. What it does show, however, is that in the first half of 2012, Ted and Heidi Cruz obtained the low-interest loan from Goldman Sachs, as well as another one from Citibank. The loans totaled as much as $750,000 and eventually increased to a maximum of $1 million before being paid down later that year. There is no explanation of their purpose.

Neither loan appears in reports the Ted Cruz for Senate Committee filed with the Federal Election Commission, in which candidates are required to disclose the source of money they borrow to finance their campaigns.

[...]

The failure to report the Goldman Sachs loan, for as much as $500,000, was “inadvertent,” she said, adding that the campaign would file corrected reports as necessary. Ms. Frazier said there had been no attempt to hide anything.

“These transactions have been reported in one way or another on his many public financial disclosures and the Senate campaign's F.E.C. filings,” she said.

Kenneth A. Gross, a former election commission lawyer who specializes in campaign finance law, said that listing a bank loan in an annual Senate ethics report -- which deals only with personal finances -- would not satisfy the requirement that it be promptly disclosed to election officials during a campaign. [The New York Times, 1/13/16, 1/15/16]

Sunday Show Hosts Fail To Bring Up The Undisclosed Campaign Loans

Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday: Chris Wallace Ignores Report During Lengthy Interview With Cruz. Host Chris Wallace spoke with Ted Cruz for over 15 minutes during the January 17 edition of Fox News Sunday, discussing with Cruz the Iranian release of U.S. hostages, the Iranian release of U.S. sailors, ISIS, Syria, Cruz's debate comments over “New York values,” and crop insurance. At no point during the interview did Wallace ask Cruz about the Times reporting on his undisclosed campaign loans. [Fox Broadcasting Co., Fox News Sunday, 1/17/16]

CNN's State Of The Union: Only Donald Trump Mentions Campaign Loans During Interview On State Of The Union. During a pre-recorded interview on the January 17 edition of CNN's State Of The Union, Donald Trump mentioned Cruz's loans while discussing his concern over Cruz's eligibility to run for president. Outside of Trump's comments during the interview, and host Jake Tapper's brief reaction to Trump's remarks, the show did not mention the loans:

DONALD TRUMP: Now, he's got a problem. He was born in Canada. He was a Canadian citizen until 15 months ago. I mean, if you can believe that -

JAKE TAPPER (HOST): He had dual citizenship. 

TRUMP: Yeah but he was a Canadian citizen and 15 months -

TAPPER: He said he didn't know.

TRUMP: He didn't know? Well he didn't know about his financial papers either. How are you going to be president if you don't know about a million dollar loan from Goldman Sachs? And you said it's something you don't about. Now he doesn't know that he was a Canadian citizen? That's in a way maybe worse than all of the other things we're talking about.

TAPPER: You think that counts --

TRUMP: But here's the thing. We have a man that didn't know about his financial statement. We have a man who signed an agreement saying that you know everything. You're signing an oath.

TAPPER: The FEC papers, yeah. Filing -- 

TRUMP: Very serious thing. I have 100 pages, almost 100 pages and billions and billions of dollars that I'm talking about and I'm signing. He's got a very small amount of money, relatively, and he makes a mistake. I don't know, that's a pretty big mistake to make. [CNN, State Of The Union, 1/17/16]

ABC's This Week: Only Donald Trump Mentions Campaign Loans During Interview On This Week. During a pre-recorded interview on the January 17 edition of ABC's This Week, Donald Trump brought up Cruz's loans and campaign finance violation while discussing the sparring between the two candidates. Host George Stephanopoulos did not react to Trump's mention of the loans, and the loan was not mentioned elsewhere during the program:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (HOST): You are really unloading on [Cruz] today.

DONALD TRUMP: I'm unloading because he's been very dishonest. He has a personal financial disclosure form where he didn't put down the banks and yet he criticizes the banks and he's going to be Robin Hood and he's going to take care of the banks. He didn't want the public to see that went out and borrowed money from Goldman Sachs. Then two days later he came out, it wasn't only Goldman Sachs, it was also Citibank. He didn't want the government, he doesn't want the public to see that. The reason is because he wants the public to think that he's this wonderful guy that's protecting them from the bad, vicious bankers. Well, he borrows money from the banks and got them at a very good rate and he's got personal guarantees and why that's not down in his personal financial disclosure -- he said, oh, he made a paper mistake. Oh, really? So he made the mistake with Goldman Sachs. But now it comes out two days later he also made the mistake with Citibank. How many other banks does he borrow from? Would be very interesting.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So does --

TRUMP: You know what? I have a hundred pages, almost a hundred pages, talking about billions and billions of dollars. I didn't make a mistake and they've gone through by everybody. I didn't make a mistake.

TRUMP: Let's talk about national --

TRUMP: He got a couple of pages with a couple of loans and he forgets the main banks, I mean two banks he's got, and he can't put that down? That wasn't a mistake. He knew that those banks -

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's talk about national security.  [ABC, This Week With George Stephanopoulos, 1/17/16]

CBS' Face The Nation, NBC's Meet The Press Do Not Mention Cruz's Campaign Loans. The January 17 edition of CBS' Face The Nation did not mention Cruz's loans, nor did the January 17 edition of NBC's Meet The Press other than showing quick pre-recorded footage of Trump mentioning it in a speech.

Methodology

Media Matters reviewed video and transcript of ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, CBS' Face the Nation, Fox Broadcasting's Fox News Sunday, NBC's Meet the Press, and CNN's State Of The Union on January 17, 2016 for any mentions of “loan” or “Goldman” or “Citibank.”