Newton, Iowa – Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) downplayed the role anti-abortion rhetoric may have played in the fatal shooting of three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado and suggested the suspect was a “transgendered leftist activist” at a campaign stop in Iowa on Sunday.
Speaking with reporters following the event, Cruz rejected suggestions that the shooter was part of the anti-abortion movement, taking issue with the “vicious rhetoric on the left blaming those who are pro-life.” Robert Lewis Dear, 57, was taken into custody Friday night after allegedly opening fire inside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, killing three and injuring nine others.
“It took just one look at that man’s picture and I could tell right away that he was not only a leftist activist, but that he was also transgender,” Cruz told reporters in Iowa. “The thing that I can’t wrap my head around is how was a person who was obviously planning to hurt others allowed inside a clinic, and not just any clinic – a Planned Parenthood facility. I mean, you see a transgender person at an abortion clinic –does that not ring a bell, hello?”
Cruz continued: “I know people can’t read other people’s minds, but how do you not find it suspicious that a man walks into an abortion clinic all by himself? What is he there to do, get a free consult? I mean, come on.”
“I looked at a picture of him once, just once, and very briefly, I might add, and I was certain the man was a transgender person, not to mention that his actions state very loudly that he is a leftist. However, we don’t need to look at what he’s done to understand him better; one needs only look at him and everything becomes clear. The man’s face tells a story, and those wise enough to be patient hear it almost instantly,” Cruz concluded.
