In a rare move the CNN Communications Dept., which speaks for the company’s top brass, criticized Senator Ted Cruz after the Texas Republican attacked Clarissa Ward, the news organization’s correspondent reporting on the ground from Kabul, Afghanistan.
“Rather than running off to Cancun in tough times,” CNN Communications tweeted, saying Ward “is risking her life to tell the world what’s happening. That’s called bravery. Instead of RTing a conspiracy theorist’s misleading soundbite, perhaps your time would be better spent helping Americans in harm’s way.”
Cruz sits on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and likely took part in the White House’s Sunday conference call with the Secretaries of State and Defense, so he knows exactly how dangerous the situation is for Ward, and that being a woman makes the situation potentially deadly for her.
Monday afternoon Cruz posted a tweet accusing Ward and CNN of “cheerleading” an “enemy of America,” the Taliban.
He was quickly admonished on social media.
Here’s Cruz’s tweet, including an out-of-context tweet from a right wing conspiracy theorist, and CNN’s response: