Ted Cruz called a New York Times story about a loan he took out while running for senator in Texas a "hit piece" and dismissed his failure to disclose the loan in his election filing as "a paperwork error."
"I disclosed that loan on one filing with the United States senate, that was a public filing but it was not on a second filing with the [Federal Elections Commission]," Cruz said during Thursday night's GOP debate.
"Both of those filings were public. And yes, I made a paperwork error disclosing it on one piece of paper instead of the other. But if that is the best hit "New York Times" has got, they better go back to the well. "
Cruz failed to disclose to the Federal Election Commission a loan from Goldman Sachs for as much as $500,000 that was used to help finance his successful 2012 U.S. Senate campaign, The Times reported on Wednesday.
The loan does not appear in reports the Ted Cruz for Senate Committee filed with the FEC, in which candidates are required to disclose the source of money they borrow to finance their campaigns, the newspaper reported.
Other campaigns have been fined for failing to make such disclosures, which are intended to inform voters and prevent candidates from receiving special treatment from lenders, the Times said.
Cruz said the story represents a pattern of attacks from the Times against him.
"You know 'The New York Times' and I don't exactly have the warmest of relationships," he said.
Catherine Frazier, a spokeswoman for Cruz, said Cruz had taken out the Goldman Sachs loan against his own assets and had paid off the loan in full.
"When I was running for senate, unlike Hillary Clinton, I don't have masses of money in the bank, hundreds of millions of dollars," Cruz said during the debate.
"When I was running for Senate just about every lobbyist, just about all the establishment opposed me in the Senate race in Texas. And my opponent in that race was worth over $200 million. He put a $25 million check up from his own pocket to fund that campaign."
Material from Bloomberg was used in this report.
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