'No evidence of fraud, you know that': CBS News’ Margaret Brennan shuts down Ted Cruz's election lies to his face

When Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas appeared on CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Sunday, November 21, it was obvious that he wasn't going to get the type of softball interview he typically expects from Fox News' Sean Hannity. "Face the Nation" host Margaret Brennan wasn't shy about asking Cruz tough questions, and she called him out for continuing to promote the widely debunked lie that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump because of widespread voter fraud.

Cruz, during his years in the U.S. Senate, has done some dramatic flip flopping where Trump is concerned. When he was competing with Trump for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016, Cruz slammed Trump as a total disgrace and an embarrassment to the GOP — only to turn around and become an obsequious Trump sycophant after he won the election and entered the White House. And during a joint session of Congress on January 6, Cruz sided with the Capitol rioters when he voted against certifying Biden's Electoral College victory.

When Brennan pointed out that many Trump supporters were chanting, "Hang Mike Pence, hang Mike Pence" on January 6, he said, "Look, I think the violence that happened on that day was horrific…. I absolutely condemn the acts of violence."

But it didn't take Cruz long to start promoting the Big Lie, telling Brennan, "We right now have a substantial chunk of our country that has real doubts about the integrity of the election. And if we had had a credible electoral commission do an emergency audit, it would have enhanced faith in democracy. But instead, Democrats and a lot of the press decided to just engage in incendiary rhetoric rather than acknowledge voter fraud is real — it is a problem.... And the allegations of voter fraud needed to be examined on the merits."

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But Brennan wasn't going to let the far-right Texas Republican get away with nonsense.

"OK, Senator," she told Cruz, "there is no evidence of fraud that would have really drawn the outcome of the election into doubt. You know that."