CNN has accused the campaign of Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz of making false statements about the network’s reporting on the campaign of GOP rival Ben Carson. “Senator Cruz’s claims about CNN are false,” the network said in a statement Wednesday evening. “At no point did the network indicate Dr. Carson would suspend his campaign.”
The network’s reporting–that Carson would make a trip to Florida before resuming his campaign–came as voters in Iowa were preparing to make the first solid votes of the 2016 campaign. CNN’s statement said “Dr. Carson’s staff informed CNN that he would return home to take a ‘deep breath’ before resuming his activities on the trail. That information was reported accurately by CNN across TV and digital.”
That’s not quite how the story was shared by the Cruz campaign, which spread word in Iowa that Carson seemed to be suspending his campaign. Cruz later blamed CNN for getting its facts wrong. “Last night when our political team saw the CNN post saying Dr. Carson was not carrying on to New Hampshire and South Carolina, our campaign updated the grassroots leaders just as we would with any breaking news story. That’s fair game.”
CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin reacted to Cruz, calling his remarks “B.S.” On CNN Newsroom Wednesday, Baldwin said “when Senator Cruz, with all due respect, tries to throw my network and CNN under the bus, let me stand up for my colleagues and journalists here…we reported it accurately,” she said on air. “I’m going to call out B.S. if I hear B.S. And that was B.S.”