Ted Cruz Repeats Right Wing Lie Planned Parenthood Terrorist Was ‘Transgendered Leftist Activist’

Ted Cruz Sunday repeated a dangerous lie that the anti-abortion terrorist suspected of murdering three people at Planned Parenthood was transgender.

In a clear attempt to win favor among Christian conservatives gathering for a town hall in Iowa Sunday, U.S. Senator and rising GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz told reporters on Sunday there have been reports that Robert Louis Dear “was registered as an independent and a woman and a transgendered leftist activist.” 

Cruz slammed the “vicious rhetoric on the left blaming those who are pro-life,” the Texas Tribune reports.

In fact, he was attempting to push back on widespread attacks online, on social media, and in mainstream media news that his own rhetoric and that of his fellow conservatives against Planned Parenthood became so toxic that it contributed to and amplified a climate of hate against Planned Parenthood, which was ignited by the debunked and fraudulent videos created and published by The Center for Medical Progress.

“The media promptly wants to blame him on the pro-life movement when at this point there’s very little evidence to indicate that,” Cruz continued in speaking with reporters. 

Reporter Samantha-Jo Roth reminded Cruz that Dear, according to reports by NBC News and others, had told police after surrendering, “no more baby parts,” immediately providing motive for the terror attack.

“It’s also been reported that he was registered as an independent and a woman and a transgendered leftist activist,” Cruz countered. “We know that he was a man who was registered to vote as a woman,” the Texas Tea Party Senator retorted, adding, “I don’t think we should jump to conclusions.”

In fact, there has been at least one fraudulent and baseless report from a far-right wing blogger whose work is often so flagrantly false he has been deemed “the stupidest man on the Internet.”

Jim Hoft, who runs a website called “Gateway Pundit, on Saturday morning claimed Dear “identifies as a woman” because of a typo in his voter registration record that incorrectly states Dear is female. There is absolutely nothing to indicate Dear is transgender, or identifies as a woman, except Hoft’s baseless report. ThinkProgress notes that since Hoft’s article, “Conservatives have since run with the claim that Dear is transgender.”

 

EARLIER:

Huckabee Doesn’t Know Any Pro-Life Leader Who’s Suggested Violence Toward Planned Parenthood (Video)

Fiorina Lies About Abortion While Attacking ‘Left-Wing’ Critics After Planned Parenthood Attack

Local Armed Citizen Approached Police At Planned Parenthood Shooting Site Offering To ‘Help’

 

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Hat tip: Raw Story, Think Progress