Texas Sen. Ted Cruz Dismisses Russian Hacking Evidence As 'Patently Absurd'

AUSTIN, TX — Despite overwhelming evidence gathered by the U.S. intelligence community of Russian hacking designed to undermine the 2016 presidential election, Sen. Ted Cruz was dismissive of the findings in a recent interview, instead blaming the media for trying to question the legitimacy of the election of Donald Trump.

“The media want to do what they can to try to delegitimize the election," Cruz said in a radio interview Thursday morning, as reported by the Texas Tribune. He later said in that same interview that there is "no evidence whatsoever that Russia's efforts against us, which have been longstanding, did anything to affect the campaign."

The U.S. intelligence community begs to differ. The same day Cruz took to the airwaves with his assertion, intelligence agency leaders repeated their assertions that only "the senior-most officials" in Russia could have authorized hacks into the email systems of both the Democratic National Committee and personnel connected to the campaign of Hillary Clinton, various media outlets, included NPR, reported.

The findings of Russian hacking date to October, when Director of National Intelligence James Clapper affirmed in an Oct. 7 joint statement from 17 intelligence agencies that the Russian government directed the hacking toward affecting the election's outcome.

On Thursday, Clapper buttressed that assertion: "We stand more resolutely on that statement," Clapper said during a Senate Armed Services hearing with intelligence chiefs.

But Cruz isn't buying it, joining GOP standard bearer Trump in questioning the unanimity of thought among intelligence officials in connection to the Russian hacks. Instead, he attributed Clinton's loss (in the Electoral College vote if not the popular one, from which she garnered roughly 3 million votes than Trump) to what he perceived as her weak candidacy.

As a presidential candidate, Clinton "...embraced an agenda that has failed and the American people disagree with," Cruz told the radio station while dismissing evidence of Russian hacking.

"News media doesn't [sic] want to acknowledge any of that so they say 'Gosh, it must be the Russians,' " Cruz told conservative radio host Mike Gallagher. "It's frankly, patently absurd."

Conversely, President Barack Obama agreed with the finding of the U.S. intelligence community, prompting him to issue new sanctions against Russian last month.

Given his theories, Cruz joins Trump in dismissing what has emerged as overwhelming evidence of Russian interference even while other Senate Republicans have accepted the findings of the U.S. intelligence community. Trump has long questioned—and at times openly mocked—the intelligence community's conclusion as it relates to hacking and has consistently praised Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

“It could be Russia,” he recently told Time magazine. “And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey.”

That skepticism by both Trump and Cruz isn't shared by their Republican colleagues. Rep. Michael McCaul, another Texas Republican who chairs the Homeland Security Committee and was once considered by Trump to head the Department of Homeland Security as part of his forming administration, has promised hearings on the issue.

“We cannot allow foreign governments to interfere in our democracy,” McCaul recently told members of the conservative Heritage Foundation. “When they do, we must respond forcefully, publicly and decisively.”

For his part, Trump, like Cruz, has dismissed the evidence. Instead, Trump has labeled talk of Russian hacking as nothing more than a "conspiracy theory" orchestrated by Democrats to undermine his election win.

>>> Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Creative Commons