Ted Cruz Calls Out MSNBC’s Chris Hayes For Wrongly Claiming Trump Received Illicit Foreign Donations When it Was Clinton

MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes was called out Tuesday after he mistakenly attributed allegations of illicit campaign funds as going to Donald Trump when they in fact were meant for Hillary Clinton.

Hayes retweeted Monday night a tweet from Detroit News reporter Robert Snell who posted two images from court documents that allege Ahmad “Andy” Khawaja and George Nader worked to “funnel funds from the UAE to the 2016 presidential election.”

The America First campaign sure had a lot of foreign sponsors! https://t.co/zirx8g92Z7

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) February 14, 2022

Hayes captions his retweet, saying, “The America First campaign sure had a lot of foreign sponsors!”

“America First” refers to the slogan used by Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential run.

Um, these were donations…to Hillary.

⁦@chrislhayes⁩ @msnbc will you correct?

And apologize?

And actually report the damn news? (You’re right—it’s a big deal, just doesn’t fit your partisan preference.) pic.twitter.com/p0y6wHRE49

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 15, 2022

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), known his for bombastic presence on the platform, responded to Hayes:

Um, these were donations…to Hillary.

⁦@chrislhayes⁩ @msnbc will you correct?

And apologize?

And actually report the damn news? (You’re right—it’s a big deal, just doesn’t fit your partisan preference.)

Cruz is correct on this. As CNN reported in December 2019:

Eight people, including a longtime political networker and a CEO, have been indicted on charges of funneling money illegally into Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and other political groups.

George Nader, who has for decades hobnobbed with political elites and became a key Mueller cooperator, and Allied Wallet CEO Ahmad “Andy” Khawaja are accused of sending millions to political committees and hiding Nader as its source, with Nader allegedly reporting to a Middle Eastern government on the effort.

Nader was connected in the past to Trump. A foreign policy expert, Nadar acted as a liaison between then-President Trump’s advisers and UAE officials.

Nader later plead guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of possessing child pornography and child sex trafficking.