Over the last month or so, Ted Cruz has been in the news a lot — but for all the wrong reasons, John.
While Ted has a well-known penchant for seeking attention and controversy, it’s his podcast that’s continued to dominate headlines.
To recap, iHeartMedia — the radio network that’s hosted Ted’s podcast since 2022 — made regular and growing payments to a super PAC supporting his reelection.
Now Ted could be facing real scrutiny from the IRS over $630,000 worth of payments that were linked to his podcast.
Rather than answer basic questions that could potentially absolve him of any wrongdoing, Ted has decided to ignore any and all questions related to his shady podcast deal.
John, the public has a right to know of any potential wrongdoing by their elected leaders. And it’s clear to us Ted thinks he’s above any accountability. That’s why we’re working overtime to make sure we fire him later this year. Can you chip in $5 to help us Cut Cruz?
Ethics and campaign finance experts have since said that this arrangement appears to blur the line between what is allowed under campaign finance laws and Senate ethics rules. One expert went even further and said:
This is not an arrangement we’ve seen before…it seems like Sen. Cruz is trying to find a way to walk the lines between not falling into an ethics violation and not falling into a campaign finance violation.
Most tax experts now agree that while Cruz may not have paid directly, this distinction is irrelevant as Cruz would still need to report the income on his tax forms since the law requires income to be taxed to the person who does the work…which in this case is clearly Ted.
Without having any additional insight into or seeing actual agreement behind his podcasting deal and how the money is being reported to the IRS, it’s impossible to know if there have been any violations.
But Calvin Johnson, a tax professor at UT Austin, said the deal appears to allow Cruz to shift payments “from one pocket to another” and therefore likely benefitting from the money going to a PAC directly supporting his reelection.
We know there’s likely to be more about this story, but if you ask us we think it’s odd that a sitting U.S. senator wouldn’t be doing everything they could to dispel these allegations. Ted’s silence speaks volumes.
This November, we’re hoping to send Ted home so he can spend all the time he wants on his sh*tty podcast. But if we’re going to be successful, we’ll need your help.
If you can, please pitch in $5 to kick Ted out of the Senate this year.
More to come,
Cut Cruz
