Earlier today, the National Enquirer reported that current presidential hopeful Ted Cruz has engaged in several extramarital affairs.
Not surprisingly, the allegations have led to widespread rumors, many of them pertaining to the identities of the five women with whom Cruz allegedly cheated on his wife of 15 years, Heidi Cruz.
#CruzSexScandal is now the number one trending topic on Twitter, and several media outlets, including Gawker, are reporting that talk of a potentially campaign-ending bombshell involving Cruz and top Donald Trump aide Katrina Pierson has been circulating for months.
The rumor was such common knowledge in media circles that it came to be known as #TheThing on social media, and now many are convinced that Pierson (who first met Trump while attending a political rally as a guest of Cruz’s) is one of the five mystery women.
Perhaps coincidentally, this latest report comes on the heel of threats by the hacker group Anonymous to expose a sex scandal involving Cruz.
Cruz has denied any wrongdoing and in a statement issued moments ago, he blamed the debacle on his opponent Trump:
“I want to be crystal clear: these attacks are garbage,” the Texas senator wrote on social media.
“For Donald J. Trump to enlist his friends at the National Enquirer and his political henchmen to do his bidding shows you that there is no low Donald won’t go.”
Trump, of course, wasted no time issuing a rebuttal:
“I have no idea whether or not the cover story about Ted Cruz in this week’s issue of the National Enquirer is true or not, but I had absolutely nothing to do with it, did not know about it, and have not, as yet, read it,” he said in a statement this afternoon.
“Ted Cruz’s problem with the National Enquirer is his and his alone, and while they were right about O.J. Simpson, John Edwards, and many others, I certainly hope they are not right about Lyin’ Ted Cruz.”
Obviously, the Enquirer has a spotty record with regard to journalistic ethics and accuracy, but Trump is not the first to point out that the tabloid was the first media outlet to report on several of the major scandals of the past two decades.
It remains to be seen if editors will be able to furnish proof of their latest allegation.