Ted Cruz lashes out: 'The overwhelming majority of violent criminals are Democrats'

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) accused news outlets of covering up what he described as violent tendencies among Democrats.

"Here's the simple and undeniable fact. The overwhelming majority of violent criminals are Democrats," Cruz told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. "The media doesn't report that."

Cruz did not cite any data to back up his accusation, instead repeating the conservative talking point criticizing President Barack Obama for nominating attorney Debo Adegbile last year to lead the Justice Department's civil rights division because Adegbile represented Mumia Abu-Jamal while working for the NAACP in 1981. Adegbile's nomination was blocked.

Hewitt made reference to Saturday's terrorist attack against a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado by noting his own opposition to reproductive rights over the past 25 years.

"I've probably done more than 100 [anti-abortion events]," he said. "I have never met, not once, a single pro-life activist who is in favor of violence of any sort."

Hewitt failed to mention that Cruz has embraced the support of Kevin Swanson, who has called for homosexuality to be punished by death in the US.

"This whole episode has really exposed the ugly underbelly of the media," Cruz said in response. "Every time you have some sort of violent crime or mass killing, you can almost see the media salivating -- hoping desperately that the murderer happens to be a Republican, so that they can use it to try and paint their political enemies."

Cruz had previously accused the man behind the fatal shooting, Robert Louis Dear, as a "transgendered leftist activist." However, Dear's ex-wife has said that he is a religious conservative.

Listen to Cruz's remarks, as aired on Monday, below.