Washington – Republican presidential candidate, Senator Ted Cruz failed to disclose to the Federal Election Commission loans he received from Goldman Sachs and Citibank that totaled about $1 million that were used to help finance his 2012 U.S. Senate campaign, campaign spokesman Catherine Frazier confirmed on Wednesday.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) requests candidates to disclose the source of money they borrow to finance their campaigns but the loans the Senator received from both Goldman and Citibank does not appear in reports the Ted Cruz for Senate Committee filed with the FEC.
Mr. Cruz filed a review of personal financial disclosures that does not find a liquidation of assets that would have accounted for all the money he spent on his campaign. However, it shows that Ted and Heidi Cruz obtained the low-interest loans from Goldman Sachs and Citibank without an explanation of their purpose.
The New York Times then published a review about Cruz’s personal finance disclosures revealing Cruz’s mistake. The Senator acknowledged the error and quickly answered reporter’s questions.
“These loans have been disclosed over and over and over again, it is an inadvertent filing question. The facts of the underlying matter have been disclosed for many, many years.” Cruz told reporters on Wednesday after a campaign event in Dorchester, South Carolina.
Frazier said the loans from both Goldman and Citibank were borrowed against their own money. The spokeswomen said Senator Cruz and his wife, who works as a managing director at Goldman Sachs, sold stocks and liquidated their savings to finance the bid.
Frazier told reporters in South Carolina that they had realized that they should have disclosed the loans, and that they were asking the FEC what they needed to do to update it, if anything.
Campaign assistants on Wednesday were publicly treating the fracas lightly, sharing other examples of #CruzCrimes on social media and downplaying it as nothing more than a clerical overlook. A top aide to a rival campaign described the revelations as a cheap shot and non-issue.
Source: NY Times