Denying allegations made by gossip tabloid The National Enquirer of an affair between herself and Senator Ted Cruz, Amanda Carpenter joined fellow CNN colleague Jake Tapper to describe the the Donald Trump campaign as smear merchants dishonestly deploying the politics of personal destruction against her.
Married and a mother of two, Carpenter said she had always been faithful to her husband.
I had a purely professional relationship with Senator Cruz, and I want to go further than that. I have been 100% faithful to my husband. There is nothing more important to me than being a good wife and a good mother,” said Carpenter, adding, “I hope no one else has to go through this.”
Responding to an innuendo-laden video implying infidelity between herself and Cruz which was published on Twitter and retweeted by Trump’s social media director, Carpenter described it as conspiracy-mongering.
“I don’t want to run away from this,” said Carpenter.”I want to address it, but at the same time, the hardest thing about doing this is defending myself but not making it worse. So that’s the weird conundrum that I found myself in, and so many other women who have to confront these sort of sexist smears.”
“There is a toxic culture being produced this season,” said Carpenter of Trump’s campaign, adding that those in the media “shouldn’t be afraid to confront it.”
Asked whether she had any knowledge of infidelity about Cruz with other women, Carpenter answered in the negative.
“I have no knowledge of any of these allegations that were raised by a supermarket tabloid,” said Carpenter. “And I don’t think they had any evidence, either. “They don’t have any proof, and so this is just a really ugly smear that seems all too common this campaign season.”
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