king and heidi cruz, the wife of senator ted cruz. our questioning begins rigig now. captioning provided by caption associates, llc www.captionassociates.com >> announcer: now from kwwl, this is the steele report. >> ron: and welcome to this week's edition of the eele report. we have two very specici guests. i'll introduce them to you moment taerl. now, remember, this is airing the day before the iowa caucuses. last week, we had lieutenant governor kim reynolds on the progogm along with democratic presidential candidate senator bernie sanders, so save your emails and everything. this is revenge of the republicans this week, i guess, soave the emails for later because we're going try to even things out as we go along throughout the course of the campaign. so welcome back, first of all, iowa fourth district congressman steve king making, i don't know, third or fourth pearance on the program in the last year. i appreciate that. he's been in iowa's congressional delegation since 2003 and the fourth district is iowa's largest geographical area

iowa's 99 counties. many of those in the kwwl viewing area. and welcome for r e first timeme on the show, idi cruz, the wife of presidential candidate senator ted cruz, the junior senator out of texas. they've been married almost 15 years now, going back to 2001. they have two young daughters, caroline andkatherine. mrs. cruz in her own right is a very successful investment banker and prate wealth manager. you're on leave fromthat right now, i understand. she's the region head for investments management division for goldman in houston, texas, graduate of harvard business school. she worked in bush 43 administration. and that's how you met husband, so welcome to the program. sounds like you're the one that ought to be running for president. >> heidi: definitely not. >> ron: : enjojo having congressman king on the show because he's the most outspoken member of the iowa delegation. i'm going to start with this because it's in the news the last few days.

when thehe governor of iowa, terry branstad, who has been on our program many times as well, came out publicly and didn't endorse anyone, instead he said don't vote in the caucuses for ted cruz. i want to get your reaction about that. you had to be stunned by that. >> rep. king: i'd say my blood pressure is not yet down to normal levels because of that and as terry bran sad has only once endorsed a candidate in the caucus. he was very clear that he would endorse no one in this and yeyet apparently at the renewable fuels conference on january 19th, he came out with that statement. as i listened to the statement, there were a number of components not supportable by e actual facts and the allegations made by the arf, the group formed to promote the rff standards, have been allegations that haven't been supportable by facts from the b binning and they've been running commercials against ted cruz on that and i'm in those commercials, so we're

months on this and governor branstad susuorted that. i'd say this. i'd ask the governor, go back and take a look at the text and listen to the audio of your statement. you will find at least four components of that that needto corrected. correct the record and let iowans go to caucus working with what is true and factual. by the way, this iowa caus first in the nation was put at great risk by that statement. we lost the straw poll in ames and that was initiated, we know, with governor branstad's statement a year ago. i fought to keep it and we lost it. i said then if losethe straw poll, that will be the elimination of a barrier that keeps them from eliminating the first in the nation caucus. what i'm concerned about now is can we hold this caucus together? because when a esidential candidate sympathies about coming toiowa to run for president, he's going to think about a governor that took a shot at him just a week and a half out. >> ron: and eric branstad, his son, as member of that organization that is certainly supporting this. mrs. cruz, when you heard, this

do you have a reaction to the governor of iowa going so public agagnst your husband? >> heidi: yeah, the great thing about our campaign is that it starts at the top with the leadership and that is our candidate. when our candidate isn't rattled things, there's no reason e wife should be. ted is focused on his strategy and wing the state of iowa through an enormous grassroots army we built and an incredible fundndising effort we undertook in 2015, so we're going to keep with the strategy that's been winning. >> ron: he's in favor of phasing out the renewable fuels starpd over a five-year period and that is something that weighs heavily on the minds of iowans, but doesn't carry too far beyond iowa, it does? >> rep. king: no, not too far beyondndowa. it might go as far as the corn belt, but here's the distinction. the message delivered for two months was ted cruz was for eliminating the rff necessarily and that's not true. he -- iimmediately, and that's not true. he introduced a piece of

a broader energy bill, and in that bill, it steps down the rff over fiefrs years. it expires at the end of five years anyway, so the question is as it would be stepped down under the cruz plan, do we have more market access under the cruz plan and ted cruz would eliminate the 10% blend wall, allow us to sell e-25 or e-30 and those things give us an opportunity to sell more ethanol that we're selling today. someone whobuilt more than half the ethanol plants in iowa estimates it would increase the masht share by 60%. i think the governor and the industry needs to stop, take a deep%breath, and listen. we have a presidential candidate whom i've worked with on this issue, the immigration issue and others, and we have a presidential candidate who will work with the industry and understand -- and by the way, we have a first lady that understands it too in heididcruz d i know that because we had a

on the bus one day. >> heidi: we did. >> ron: there're looking at 22 billion this year, so that's on the total goal of 36. i'ved that donald trump on this program. actually, he fired me on my own program, i don't know if that went over big or not, but a lot of people probably agreed with himn thatat one. trump rallies of late have been interesting in that he does attract large, boisterous rowds that seem to support a lot of what hesays until he criticizes ted cruz, your husband. what is that saying about your campaign here in iowa? you're ruing neck and neck in the latest polls. >> heidi: our campaign reflects who ted is and from the beginning, that's a person and a campaign that's not going to attack others,p that's going to stick to our naej and take the high road. i've always admired that substance, he knows the issues so well and he's principled. he knows what he believes in. he doeoe't have to end a lot

that's been a big positive for our campaign and we're going to keep doing that. >> ron: i noticed a lot of people like on nbc in their profile of you ecently, describe you as the quote-unquote, secret weapon. that's a flattering statement because you have not been afraid to take anan active role in this campaign. as you look at republicans, do they have the demographics to win the white house now or do they have to expand? how is your husband going to be able to do that without compromising the principles you mentioned? >> heidi: i absolutely believe the republican party has the coalition to win this nraition. when you look at -- this nation. when you look at historical elections and gegeral election knowledge, when we run a conservative, an economic conservative, a social conservative, and a national security conservative, we win national elections. people turn outt when they know that the candidate is principled, when there's a frofr ven track record and a consistent track record. people have a chance to get to know you and who you are and

dodo, there's a lot of voters out there who want to know that the candidate is truthful and really know them. when we turn out base in the republican party, we win elections. >> ron: even governor branstad, though he criticized your husband, asking iowans to voe against him on caucus night, admitted that he has the best ground game in the state rightt now. we have guys like steve king helping you, so tell me how proud you are of the team that you have here in iowa because on caucus night, you just never know. you've got to get your people out or you'll find out, as other people have, that aurora not as strong as -- you're not as strong as you thought you were. >> heidi: we could not be more proud of the team we've built in iowa. this is an incredibly important state in this state and every presidential election. we started out with two traffic aims in this campaign. one is to build a grassroots army that this country has not seen since reagan. our team that came together in

could have even hoped for with congressman steve kingng joining us, with bob vander plat, the family leader, and we got to know them deeply. these are important leader and i will tell you and i want to tete iowa caucus goers, they do their homework. they have evaluated every candidate. we've spent with them getting to know them, talking to them, talking to them about our marriage, our family, our faith, what drives us, what ted's principles are. and it was such an honor, not just because of the election, but just personally to have the support and the respect of such incredible leaears in our nation in bob and steve. >> ron: i've seen a lot of video of you actually on the phone, manning the phones, trying to reach as many iowans, and don'n'know if you were talking to iowans at the time, but iowans and new hampshire and as you move into the other primaries. steve, when sarah palin came out with donald trump, what did that say to you guys? were you hopininfor her endorsement or is that -- i had

finally played a mistake, i mean in his mistaken. i don't know, not everybody is aa sarah palin fan n iowa. what do you think about that endorsement? how does it hurt or help anybody? >> rep. king: i like sarah palin. she came to the event i hosted last january 24th a year ago and gave a speech in thestate as did donald trump and ted cruz and a number of others, and at that time, we set i remember ted and sarah anan i standing in a little triangle circle there the evening before, and i was trying to convince her to come to our pheasant hunt the next day. i didn't try hard enough. i could have closed the sale, but i thought i'm not going to press that hard. now i know it's my fault. if i had gotten her out there in the field with a shotgun, we would have hadad bond. but a lot of sarah's policies are ted's policy. her statement on energy position is ted's energy position and it can't hardly be donald trump's and ted's at the same time

all subsidies and she's leaving the playing fieldn so i think philosophically, e's closer to ted than trump. we'll see how it works out on the night of caucus. >> ron: are you friends of sarah palin and were you surprised by her endorsement of donald trump? >> heidi: sarah came to texas and campaign for ted and made big difference in his race. i expense some time with their family and we like the pail lins. i think sarah has had an incredible impact on the country so. >> ron: so you were surprised probably that she is endorsing donald trump? >> heidi: not much surprising me. >> ron: were you upset about it? >> heidi: back to your question before, ted, if you watch ted and if you spend time with ted, you see what an incredible unflappable character he has and that comes from his mother. mother.

children. the family was blue collar family and worked in the factories in delaware. ted's father was the first of her family to go to college. she is smart, wise, she's an incredible listener, very, very patient, and nothing rattles her and ted has a very, very strong dna of that and it's a great blessing. things realllldon't bother ted. i know what he's doing and why he's doing it, and we are confident that voters will get to know him. >> ron: i'm not going to get you to answer that question, ami? >> heidi: i just answered. [ laughter ] >> rep. king: answer this, ron. if you have irish blood, that's an explanationor any kind of behavior whatsoever. >> h hdi: that can be ttrue. ron: we'll take a break real quick. reminder, the program in its entirety will be on kwwl.com as well shortly after we air it re, aswe always follow meet the press on sunday mornings. we'l the american people can't afford to wait for ideas that sound good on paper...

the grandmother who has to choose between paying for medicine and paying rent... can't wait. the single mom who desperately needs a raise... can't wait. the studenwith a mountain of debt can't wait. we can make real progress, right now. i'm caucusing... i'm caucusing... i'm caucusing for hillary clinton. i'm hillary clinton and i approve this message. there are those who say we cannot defeat a corrupt political system and fix a rigged economy. but i believe we need to lift our vision above the obstacles in place and look to the american horizon. to a nation where every child can not only dream of going to college, but attend one. where quality healthcareill be a birthright of every citizen. where e good job is not a wiwi, but a reality. where women receive equal pay and a living wage is paid to all. an america where after a lifetiti of labor,

a nation that defends our people and our values, but no longer carries so much of that burden alone. i know we can create that america if we listen to our hearts. and that journey begins here in iowa. i'm bernie sanders. i approve this message, and i ask you to join with us at the caucuses on monday night. thank you.

this is one of the jobs where theyeyave to pay you the same. but there are so many examples where that doesn't happen. i'm going to do everything i can to make sure every woman in every job gets paid the same... ...as the men who are doing that job. i'm hillary clinton and i approve thisisessage. >> ron: welcome back to the

week on the steele report on kwwl. we have, of coursrs, congressman steve king and heidi cruz with us, the wife of senator ted cruz and on the campaign trail and doing a job that is really tough. i mean, it's grueling, you have to be so dedicated. i know you've been mary about 15 -- married about 15 years, this has been to be a tete of your dedication to each other. your husband talked about this earlier, not relinquishing the core values on issues that are controversial like same sex marriage. you feel he's going to be able to do that without any compromise at all to his faith, to what he believes? you were born, i believe, and grew up as a seventh day adventist, so you have strong faith in your background. gigi me the pitch and give the people watching here today, your husband is a man who will not compromise, high#values. that's what you love about him, right? >> heidi: well, thank you, ron, for asking that question.

run this race through the primary and the general without compromising his principles. thisiss what's been so interesting about elections for so long. there's an old adage in the republican party, run to the right in the primary and run to the middle in the general and gueseswhat? when we do that, we lose. when we run as who we genuinely are and we have a candidate who's a consistent principled conservative and even on the website, we don't talk out the issues and talking points. we talk about what he's done. when people see that, we'll turn out the base of the party and the same people will turn out and vote for ted in the general and what is so unique and from larve about ted as a candidate, he's a man of fate, a christian man, ised by a family dedicated to democracy and fighting for freedoms. his father came here from cuba as a freedom fighter. he was raised with the bible and

ingrained on him and what's so superlative about him is he's able to have the principles personally and govern from a base of faith, but as a constitutionalist. r constitution was inspired to govern a land of freedom, of individual choice, of opportunity and consequence. law and order and consequence. and ted, i believe, is one of thforemosin our nation today that undersrsnds the constitution and how to apply it to citizens and states of this country. and when you listen to what he says and not what others say about him, it is a fascating experience becauseseed does not back down from who he is and his principles, but he knows the three branches of government, he knows the limits on power, and he understands the 10th amendment. i am with h d wherever he campaigns, from new york city to iowa to south carolina, new hampshire, los angeles. and he says the same thing to every single voter in any of these different states. are a natiti of many, many different -- of many, many faiths. people came here from all over the world and it's tural that

need to convince our fellow citizens of our beliefs and not rule through the executive order in the office. >> ron: i know he has the pen out asking formore ink to get rid of some of these executive orders. donana trump did bring the citizenship eligibility. what was that all about? >> heidi: i don't know buy donald trump brought it its when he does.. that's his own campaign strategy. we'll keep running our race. from the way this played out and i said this on television before, this is not a @egal matter that will be of consequence. >> ron: and also -- >> rep. king: i'd just like to jump in on that. i'm on the constitution subcommittee, the house judiciary committee and i've loed into this deeply and actually tracked it over the years. it really comes down to this. there are two ways to be a citizen of the united states. you can be naturalized or natural born, and if you look back at the scholarship on this, when this wadate, when it was put into the constitution,

that clarified that in 1790, a number of them were there shaping the constitution itself. and so t ty understood what natural born was and what it really means is if when you're born, you are a citizen of the united states, you're naturally born to be a citizen of the united states. you can either be naturalized or natural born. there's no other kind of citizen. no one questions ted cruz's citizenship. he's not naturalized, he's natural born and it fits the constitution and it fits current law that goes back to 1790. >> ron: let's talkabout new york values. does he regret saying that? does he wish he phrased it another way or is that another thing that he's not going to back down from saying something like that that apparently offended a lot of people in the state of new w york? >> heidi: as you might know about ted, he is willing to work with those who want to advance our cvntry. from day one in the senate, he campaign to 17 million texans at he would work hard to

to defund and get rid of oak, and he has done -- obamacare and he has dode exactly that. he is happy to work hard with those who want to moveve our country forward. he's not happy to go up and not do what he said he would do and make deals to do less than what he promised voters. so when -- if it's ever id about ted that he's uncompromising, he is uncompromising to get a bad deal, that is true. >> ron: did you just say that he regrets saying new york values or not? >> heidi: you have to ask ted himself what he regrets saying, but i do talk to ted and ted >> ron: as of you. >> heidi: and my experience of 16 years knowing ted cruz, assess what he means and he means what he says, and he define the terms as he did in a letter that he wrotote to those that asked, which were democrats, asked ted for an apology and i'd really encourage the caucus goers of iowa to read

wrote to the democrats, which is what he meant by his statement. ted apologize for small business owners for being run out of new york because of overregulation. ted apologized for the overregulation of manhattan because of the size of their soda drinks. ted apologized to the africc american kid who had his choice taken away from him by de blasio and put back in failing excuse. that is what ted meant. i encourage you to go to google and look up that letter. it's one of the great things about him as a candidate. we don't have to wonder what ted means. that's why we encourage people to listen to what he says, not what people say about him. >> ron: that seems to be one of the things that are at tracking cruz. two men who are saying whatever is on their mind andd not being as politically correct as seem people feel we need to be. there's a aufrl lot of debate about that. let's make predictions now -- >> rep. king: ron, what's

that the new york values that ted spoke to on the debate that thursday night were the new york values that donald trump had described to the rest of americ in an interview with tim russ sart, october 24th, 2009. he even referenced that his values might be different from iowa. i would say the politics didn't change, 84% of manhattan still went for barack obama. that's the part that's missing from there dialoguehere today and i appreciate heidi's answer, i think is better than mine. >> heidi: thank you. >> ron: one other issue not really dogging you, but i'm going to have you clarify it. you work for a bank, ldman sachs, got a loan in 2012, a couple loans, obviously paid back or are being paid back, but were not disclosed properly or may not have been. why don't t u setthe record straight on that? and it does matter to people. >> heidi: absolutely. >> ron: because any appearance

circumvent the law is a big deal in iowa. >> heidi: thank you for asking that question because i hope it matters to people that hospitaly is first and loanan he took out two loans to finance the senate race. we had the assets to back them, they were at market rate and both paid back a long time ago rather than selling lur stocks, waeld rather take out a margin loan in case and a straight-up loan in the other case and pay them bac as i recall, the market did rise that year, so it was good decision. ted did disclose both of those loans. it was on one form and not triebz to another form. we've said many times, we e ve the paperwork. i really appreciate the question because i at the end getting closer and closer to votes, they're always a desire by some to try to find risks that e -- that might disclose character and in there case, i can assure

anyone else, he is a tremendous vutful person, in -- truthful pepeon, incredibly meticulous. >> ron: and there's no evidence he got any special treatment, there wass margin ailable -- >> heidi: correct. we do not favor employees over customers and i hope that most banks don't, and we had a margin loan for our asset value at the going market rate. >> ron: i want to asask you sosothing real perm. there's a lot of -- personal. there's a lot of stories coming out that many people in the country go through a depression period in their life. you did apparently at one time. how did you deal it and how can you help millions with others with that incident in your life? >> heidi: thank you for asking that. one of the great sthrintion about life's journey is we all hit rough patches anddif there's anything i can do to help strengthen others, it would be my greatest honor. if you don't have rough patches, you probably haven't lived a lot. when we moved back to texas, i was born and raised in california and my family was all

career and finding my place there took me a little bit of time. that experience really taught me also a lot about ted. i want the vovors of iowa to know what kind of man and husband he is. as i said before, he's a great listener and he has amazing patience and ted really displayed those two things as well as his strength and his faith during that time. it was a period that, you know, people struggle with real difficulties and i don't want to make a big deal abt this because it was -- we have a very stroro marriage, had great marriage then, and a move to a different state was a matter of me spiritually finding myself and how god can use me in this next chapter andnded was great aid in that and i really admire and respect him for that over and over. he would say let's do what's going to make this transition easiest and best for you. i have a really strong family and d eat friends, and the other thing i want to say about that is texas is a great place to move to. it's a very welcoming commity and if you're willing to get in

genuine relationships, texas is a wonderful place to be. >> ron: thank you very much for answering that. 30 seconds to go. who wins on monday night? would you accept second place? >> rep. king: i think ted cruz wins in a tight race on monday night and i think that gis him the springboard to new hampshire and south carolina and beyond. and if that all happs this way, we get iowa values in the oval offffe, we get heidi cruz as the first lady and that is -- it would be over by now if it were about the first lady. ted cruz is a constitutionist, a very principled man to be president of the united states. >> ron: thank you both very much. good luck on the campaign trail. thanks for coming on the steele report. we'll see you ne week and also online on kwwl.com. captioning provided by caption associates, llc www.captiona one of the areas that i've been particularly interested in is the area of children. we intend to be sure that everybody in this room and everu child in this state is somebody. matter where they're born, no matter to whom they are born.

has a chance to live up to his or her god-given potential. i've spent my life fighting for children, and i'm not stopping now. i'm hillary clinton, and i have always approved this message. they're one of the wall street banks that triggered the financial meltdown -- goldman sachs. just settled with authorities for their part in the crisis that put seven million out of work and millions out of their homes. how doesesall street get away with it? millions in campaign contributions and speaking fees. our economy works for wall seet because it's rigged by wall street. and that's the problem. as long as washington is bought and paid for, we can't build an economy that works for people. sanders: i'm bernie sanders, and i approve this message. one of the areas that i've been partitilarly interested in is the area of children. all of us have a responsibility, to ourselves, to our children, to each other. we intend to be sure that everybody ininhis room and every child in this state is somebody.

no matter to whom they are born. our children's future is shaped both by the values of their parents and the policies of their nation. it's time to protect the next generation, fill the lives of our children with possibilili and hope, open up the doors so that every child has a chance to live up to his or her god-givev potential. i've spent my life fighting fororhildren, families and our country, and i'm not stopping now. (crowd cheers) i'm hillary clinton, and i have always approved this message.