Ted Cruz blasts Brian Williams as ‘corrupt’ after anchor accuses him of peddling ‘Russian propaganda’

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Brian Williams' ego at center of fallout

Former NBC News anchor breaks his silence, apologizes on 'Hannity'

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, blasted MSNBC anchor Brian Williams on Friday as a "pitiful example of corrupt corporate media" after Williams accused the senator of sharing "Russian propaganda."

Cruz condemned a controversial new U.S. Army recruitment video, arguing that it's intended to promote a "woke, emasculated military." The original ad features Cpl. Emma Malonelord, a soldier raised in California by two moms, showing her attending LGBTQ protests, before following her journey to joining the Army. 

The ad got so much negative feedback on YouTube that the comments section was disabled. But the TikTok video Cruz shared and responded to on Twitter contrasts the Army video with an ad from Russia's military featuring a muscular man hitting the gym and jumping out of planes.

At the end of his program, Williams called Cruz's remarks a "remarkably stupid lapse in judgment" while pushing the new nickname "Kremlin Cruz." Williams also suggested Cruz one day wants to be president of Russia.

Cruz pushed back against this assertion by listing at least three flaws in Williams' argument. 

One, Cruz said, "I hate communists, my family was imprisoned & tortured by communists, and Brian is a shameless apologist for Russian (and Chinese and Cuban) communists." 

Two, "I was arguing that our military needs to be able to kick the ass of Russian soldiers. It’s Brian & his lefty comrades that are working relentlessly to diminish the effectiveness of the U.S. military—the finest fighting force on the face of the planet." 

And thirdly, he wrote, "JUST THIS WEEK Biden gave Putin a multi-billion-dollar gift, when he waived mandatory U.S. sanctions to allow Russia to build Nord Stream 2, a massive natural gas pipeline to Germany. Who authored the sanctions that STOPPED NS2? That would be me."

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He then challenged Williams to cover that news instead and reminded followers of the MSNBC anchor's career detour and demotion for making false statements about his past reporting.

"Is there a more pitiful example of corrupt corporate media than Brian Williams?" Cruz asked, before hitting him as "a left-wing hack at MSNBC."

Williams had an unceremonious exit as anchor of NBC's "Nightly News" in 2015 after admitting to lying about having been in a Chinook helicopter that was brought down by grenades during his reporting in Afghanistan in 2003. 

"I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago," he admitted on air.

"I would not have chosen to make this mistake," he told "Stars & Stripes." "I don’t know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another."

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Williams has also been slammed for his fawning coverage of President Biden.

"Something to think about, when we see Joe Biden come down this aisle, 36-year veteran of the Senate, but so far, because of the pandemic, and he has never used terms of victimization, he has been robbed of so much of the majesty and pomp of the job," Williams bemoaned ahead of Biden's first joint address to Congress.