Ted Cruz Says Hillary Clinton 'Deliberately Stonewalled' on Benghazi

Tea party heavyweight Sen. Ted Cruz said that he believes former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton purposely prevented the public release of details pertaining to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

"What I think is that she has deliberately stonewalled," Cruz said in an interview with George Stephanopoulos on "This Week."

"The American people deserve the truth; our men and women in harm's way deserve the truth," the Texas Republican added.

Although Cruz did not directly say that he believes Clinton's handling of Benghazi should disqualify her from running for president, he had a quick response to Stephanopoulos when asked for the case against a Hillary Clinton presidency.

The senator pointedly tied Clinton to what he said were the failures of the Obama administration, referring to an "Obama-Clinton" foreign policy and saying that the low labor-force participation rate under Obama is a reason not to vote for Hillary.

"Her policies, domestically and internationally, haven't worked," he said. "Domestically the Obama economic agenda is a disaster; we've got the lowest labor force participation since 1978; millions of hardworking Americans, their lives have gotten harder."

Cruz argued that "internationally, the Obama-Clinton foreign policy is a disaster… Every region of the world has gotten worse; America has weakened, our enemies have been strengthened."

Sen. Ted Cruz (R) Texas on 'This Week' Credit: ABC

Cruz, however, was very optimistic about GOP prospects in this year's midterm elections.

"I think 2014 is going to be a fantastic year for Republicans," he said. "I think we're likely to retake the Senate."

Venturing a 2016 prediction, Cruz told Stephanopoulos that he believes the GOP streak will extend past the midterms.

"I think 2016 is going to be a very strong year for Republicans," the senator said.

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