Ron Paul: Cruz ‘owned by Goldman Sachs’

Former Rep. Ron Paul is lashing out at Ted Cruz, calling the GOP presidential contender too close to Wall Street.

“People are liking Cruz. They think he’s for the free market, and he’s owned by Goldman Sachs,” the former Texas lawmaker said on Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Company,” according to Politico.

{mosads}“I mean, he and [Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton] have more in common than we would have with either Cruz or [Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump] or any of them so I just don’t think there is much picking,” Paul added.

Ron Paul also praised Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

“On occasion, Bernie comes up with libertarian views when he talks about taking away the cronyism on Wall Street, so in essence he’s right, and occasionally he voted against war,” Paul added.

Ron Paul’s son, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), also ran for the 2016 GOP nomination but ended his campaign earlier this week.

Paul said his son’s exit leaves voters with no libertarian choice.

“It’s hard to find anybody — since Rand is out of it — anybody that would take a libertarian position, hardcore libertarian position on privacy, on the war issue and on economic policy,” said Paul, who twice sought the Republican nomination, in 2008 and 2012.

“So I always say: You can search for a long time, but you’re not [going to] find anybody in the Republican or Democratic primary that even comes close to ever being able to claim themselves a libertarian.”

Cruz has faced criticism for his ties to Goldman Sachs. His wife is an investment manager at the firm.

Reports emerged last month that Cruz did not disclose loans from the financial firm during his 2012 Senate campaign. He has dismissed those charges, saying it was a clerical error that has been corrected.