CNN: Cruz 'Continues to Knowingly Mislead Voters' on Carson Report

CNN issued a statement Saturday night accusing Texas Sen. Ted Cruz of misleading the public about its Monday night reporting that Ben Carson, one of Cruz's GOP presidential rivals, was dropping out of the race.

Cruz in Saturday night's debate again blamed the incident on CNN's reporting, saying that it had reported Carson was stepping away from his campaign after the Iowa caucuses, but didn't note that he was only taking a few days off the campaign trail until several hours later.

This, Cruz said, is the reason his campaign workers sent out a notice to precinct heads in Iowa to tell Carson supporters to switch their votes to Cruz.

"What Senator Cruz said tonight in the debate is categorically false," CNN's statement after the debate read. "CNN never corrected its reporting because CNN never had anything to correct. The Cruz campaign’s actions the night of the Iowa caucuses had nothing to do with CNN’s reporting. The fact that Senator Cruz continues to knowingly mislead the voters about this is astonishing."

Carson himself noted during the debate that a tweet from CNN reporter Chris Moody mentioning his temporary return to Florida was followed quickly by another noting that the campaign was not ending and that Carson intended to continue no matter the outcome.

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