Thank you for the link – I would have missed it otherwise. Will spend some time going over it including links.
Honestly, I am totally NOT surprised. Why? Because Putin would never pick his puppet at random or leave it to chance – and of course Trump’s Russia connections (and kompromats Russia collected along the way) go way, way back beyond the 2016 elections.
Given his hiring of Cambridge Analytica first, I still do not rule out the possibility Cruz is another favorite. But I am not aware of Cruz having such deep, complex ties with Russia as Trump does.