Ted Cruz, one of Trump's staunchest MAGA allies, was begging Fox News behind the scenes to show 'demonstrable facts' and evidence before repeating Trump's 2020 election lies
- Ted Cruz was recorded in 2020 urging Maria Bartiromo to make sure she had her facts straight.
- Cruz told Bartiromo to ensure she had evidence for any election fraud claims aired on Fox News.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz warned a Fox News host in 2020 about needing "demonstrable facts" to back up MAGA election fraud claims — indicating that he, too, was concerned the false allegations weren't grounded in evidence.
A recording of Cruz's conversation with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo was obtained and aired by MSNBC's Ari Melber on a Thursday episode of his show "The Beat."
Cruz and Bartiromo spoke over the phone on November 7, 2020, per MSNBC. It was the day before Rudy Giuliani — who at the time was then-President Donald Trump's personal lawyer — was scheduled to appear on Bartiromo's show.
"It can't just be, you know, somebody tweeted this. It's got to be demonstrable facts that can be laid out with evidence," Cruz cautioned Bartiromo. "Because that's what a court of law is gonna look into, not just an allegation, but actual facts."
Cruz said he hoped Giuliani "had some of those facts" to present in his appearance the next day on Bartiromo's show.
"And I hope the legal team continues to lay out the specific evidence, because that's what it's gonna take to prevail in court," Cruz said in the recording.
Despite his reservations, in January 2021, Cruz ended up voting not to certify the results of the 2020 election, joining several hardline GOP senators in repeating Trump's election fraud lies.
"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 the illegality and fraud in this election?" Cruz said on January 6, 2021.
The airing of the recording of Cruz's call comes after Fox News agreed to pay $787.5 million on Tuesday to settle a massive defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems.
Dominion's lawyers said Fox, its producers, and its hosts knew that Trump's election lies were baseless — but chose to promote them anyway, and brought on Giuliani and his fellow attorney, Sidney Powell.
Dominion sued Fox in March 2021 and argued in court filings that Powell and Giuliani — acting as Trump surrogates — went on Fox and communicated a false narrative about the company and its role in the election. This included groundless claims that Dominion had conspired with another election technology company, Smartmatic, to rig the 2020 presidential vote.
Representatives for Cruz and Fox News did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.