Senator mocks Cruz for saying most violent criminals are Democrats

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) chastised Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Tuesday for suggesting that most violent criminals are Democrats.

“Five Pinocchios,” Durbin told reporters when asked about Cruz’s comments during a Monday evening interview.  

{mosads}The Washington Post’s “Fact Checker” blog rates statements from political figures using the “Pinocchio Test.” It ranges from “one Pinocchio” for things that are largely factual, to “four Pinocchios” described only as “whoppers.” 

Cruz, who is running for president, told the “The Hugh Hewitt Show” on Monday evening that “here is the simple and undeniable fact — the overwhelming majority of violent criminals are Democrats.”

The Texas senator added, “The Democrats know that convicted felons tend to vote Democrat. The media never reports on any of that. [It] doesn’t want to admit any of that.”

Durbin told reporters he had thought businessman Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, had been the one to make the comments about criminals being Democrats. 

“Did he say that? No, that was Trump,” he told reporters, before adding “It was Cruz? These guys are competing with one another.”  

Asked if he has ever been a violent criminal, the Illinois Democrat joked, “I’m about to do it for the first time, step back.”