WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF THE PREMISE?
by Sharon Rondeau
(Feb. 3, 2016) — At approximately 4:13 p.m. EST, Fox News judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano tweeted, “I’m on the Kelly File tonight – Did Trump Commit Fraud Against Cruz? 9pm eastern – Fox News Channel – Don’t miss it.”
The question is the inversion of one that presidential candidate Donald Trump made against Cruz just hours ago during a campaign appearance in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary in the nation following the Iowa caucuses held on Monday night.
Presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson also accused the Cruz campaign of “dirty tricks” for disseminating false information, without later correcting it, that Carson was abandoning his campaign Monday.
Trump refused to participate in the last debate before the Iowa caucuses, citing “The Kelly File” host Megyn Kelly, one of its moderators, as biased against him. Trump’s decision to hold a veterans’ fundraiser that evening was in response to what he said was the larger problem of Fox News Channel’s bias as evidenced by a sarcastic tweet issued by an unnamed spokesman.
Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes stood by Kelly’s “excellent journalism.”
Although the Iowa Secretary of State does not have purview over the caucuses, his office issued a statement that a mailer the Cruz campaign sent to certain Iowa neighborhoods citing voting “violations” was “misleading.”
“Accusing citizens of Iowa of a “voting violation” based on Iowa Caucus participation, or lack thereof, is false representation of an official act. There is no such thing as an election violation related to frequency of voting. Any insinuation or statement to the contrary is wrong and I believe it is not in keeping in the spirit of the Iowa Caucuses,” Secretary of State Paul Pate’s statement said.
MSNBC reported that “Iowans from across the state confirmed the story” that Iowans had been misled by the Cruz campaign as described by Carson’s wife, Candy, who was campaigning in certain precincts for her husband.
Cruz supporters have disparaged both Trump and Carson over the misreporting on the part of Cruz’s staffers on Monday night despite Cruz’s admission that the staffers “made a mistake.”
Trump said on Twitter on Wednesday that Cruz “stole” Iowa rather than winning the caucuses fairly. Cruz then coined the term “Trumpertantrum” which was repeated several times by Fox News Channel anchor Shepherd Smith during his 3:00 p.m. EST news hour.
To date, this writer has found no allegations from any one that Trump committed fraud during the Iowa caucuses.
Prior to the above tweet, Napolitano announced that “Trump will be on with Greta tonight explaining how Cruz stole IA from him. 7pm eastern – Fox News Channel – don’t miss it. @greta.”
Trump had been predicted to win the Iowa caucuses by a margin of five points in most polls.