Ted Cruz leverages Trump conviction on podcast for own personal gain

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has accused Democrats of personally benefiting from former President Donald Trump’s criminal convictions. At the same time, Cruz has used his podcast to discuss the topic extensively, which in turn directly funds his political action committee.

Trump was found guilty on May 30 of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money scheme to influence the outcome of the 2016 election. He is the first U.S. president to be convicted of a felony. In the immediate aftermath of the jury’s decision, Cruzed used his podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz, to attack the judge presiding over the case and defend Trump.

“Judge Merchan is a joke,” Cruz said. “He should have taken off his black robe and put on a Biden campaign hat. He is a Biden donor, his daughter is a Democrat fundraiser, and the entire trial was a Biden campaign contribution.”

Since May 30, Cruz has dedicated three full episodes of his podcast to Trump’s conviction. He promoted these episodes in 19 separate social media posts. Several earlier episodes focused on the indictments against Trump and the hush money trial.

“We will hear the words ‘convicted felon’ referring to Donald Trump, from Democrats and from the corporate media, 1 billion times between now and Election Day,” Cruz said on his May 31 broadcast. “Every other sentence they say will say ‘felon, felon, felon, felon’ and that was the point … This is all their effort to try to stop the American people from reelecting Trump.”

As Cruz accuses Democrats of exploiting Trump’s convictions for political gain, his political action committee profits from him discussing the topic on his podcast.

Verdict with Ted Cruz is produced by the radio conglomerate iHeartMedia. In lieu of paying Cruz a salary, iHeartMedia makes ad revenue payments to Truth and Courage PAC, the primary PAC supporting Cruz’s reflection. The PAC has received more than $630,000 as a result.

It has been speculated that this funding arrangement was devised to skirt laws prohibiting U.S. Senators from having multiple revenue streams. In April, the watchdog group End Citizen United filed a federal election commission complaint against Cruz, alleging the deal violates campaign finance laws.

Cruz is currently running for a third term. His Democratic opponent is U.S. House Rep. Colin Allred.

A Cruz spokesperson did not respond to questions for this story.