Ted Cruz on Obama and PolitiFact, 'an institution'

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Tuesday he can understand why Americans might not trust President Barack Obama.

Speaking broadly about the importance of stopping Obama from letting U.S. residents without legal authorization stay in the country indefinitely, Cruz invoked the 2013 PolitiFact Lie of the Year.

After a reporter asked what makes Cruz so sure or confident Obama will issue an executive order enabling more immigrants to stay in the U.S., Cruz replied: "Well, he’s stated that he intends to. Now I understand that the president has given people significant reason to doubt his word. This is a man who campaigned nationally, promising the American people with regards to Obamacare, if you like your health insurance plan, you can keep your health insurance plan. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.

"There's a reason PolitiFact -- an institution of which I am not a fan -- but there is a reason PolitiFact rated that statement the Lie of the Year," Cruz said. We learned of this mention from a tweet postd by Elise Foley of the Huffington Post.

In December, PolitiFact noted that Obama numerous times had said that under the 2010 act he signed into law, "if you like your health care plan, you can keep it." That declaration wasn’t accurate. And last fall, as cancellation letters were going out to approximately 4 million Americans, the public realized Obama’s breezy assurances were wrong.

Read the PolitiFact write-up on its Lie of the Year here. Also, we’ve compiled our recent fact checks of Cruz (or connected to him) to the right.

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