DORCHESTER, S.C. — Responding to a report that said he did not disclose a loan from his wife’s employer during his 2012 U.S. Senate campaign, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz called the issue a "technical and inadvertent filing error" that he will fix if necessary.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that a loan from Goldman Sachs was not disclosed in campaign finance reports during Cruz’s successful 2012 campaign. Heidi Cruz, Ted Cruz's wife, is currently on leave from her job as a managing director at Goldman Sachs.
According to the Times report, Cruz put $1.2 million in “personal funds” into his campaign. A Times review of the Cruzes' personal finance disclosures found that in the first half of 2012, they received low-interest loans from Goldman Sachs and Citibank. The loans would grow to a maximum of $1 million before they began being paid down.
Neither loan appears in reports that Cruz’s campaign committee filed with the Federal Election Commission. Candidates must note sources of money they borrow for their campaigns.
“It is an inadvertent filing question,” Cruz told reporters after a campaign event in South Carolina. “The facts of the underlying matter have been disclosed for many, many years.”
Cruz added there was nothing that came up that wasn’t already public knowledge.
“Those loans had been disclosed over and over and over again on multiple filings,” he said. “If it was the case that they were not filed exactly as the [Federal Election Commission] requires, then we’ll amend the filings, but all of the information has been public and transparent for many years, and that’s the end of that."
Earlier Wednesday evening, a spokeswoman for the Cruz campaign acknowledged that the loan should have been disclosed in campaign finance reports.
“Cruz wrote a personal check to his campaign for $1.4 million. Those funds came from a combination of his personal savings, selling some stock and taking a loan out against his assets. Because he took a loan out against his assets, that detail should’ve been in the FEC form,” Catherine Frazier, the spokeswoman, told reporters in Dorchester. “We’re reaching out to the FEC and asking them their recommendation on anything we need to do to update or amend that report.”
Cruz defeated then-Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in a 2012 GOP primary runoff before handily winning the Senate seat in the general election. As he campaigns for president, Cruz often recalls how he and his wife put all their personal finances on the line to win the contest.
As word of the undisclosed loan spread Wednesday night, Cruz aides sought to downplay the seriousness of the revelation. On Twitter, Cruz rapid response director Brian Phillips coined the hashtag "#CruzCrimes" to suggest other perceived trivial offenses.
Before the end of the night, at least one rival campaign had seized on the news.
"Unreported 7 figure Goldman Sachs loans are standard for authentic anti-establishment leadrs, right? Right? Bueller?" tweeted Jim Merrill, a senior adviser to U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.
The Texas Tribune provided this story.
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