Cruz now recants his Jan. 6 comments

Texas’ junior senator under fire for ‘violent terrorist attack’

WASHINGTON — After a day in the crosshairs of conservative commentators for calling Jan. 6 a “violent terrorist attack,” U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz was on Fox News taking it all back.

“It was a mistake to say that,” Cruz said Thursday night on Tucker Carlson's show, 24 hours after Carlson tore into Cruz and other Republicans for “repeating the talking points that (Attorney General) Merrick Garland has written for them.”

Cruz said he texted Carlson soon after the Wednesday evening segment aired, asking if he could go on the show again and explain that his phrasing was “sloppy and it was, frankly, dumb.”

“As a result of my sloppy phrasing it's caused a lot of people to misunderstand what I meant,” Cruz said. “What I was referring to was the limited number of people who engaged in violent attacks against police officers.

“Remember, while thousands of people were standing up to defend this country on Jan. 6, at that exact moment I was standing on the Senate floor, objecting to the election results, demanding that we impanel an election commission to consider evidence of voter fraud,” Cruz said. “Of course, it would be ridiculous for me to be saying that the people standing up and protesting to follow the law were somehow terrorists.”

Carlson said he didn't “buy it,” because Cruz never uses words “carelessly.”

“I guess I just don't believe you, and I mean that with respect,” Carlson said.

The blowback from Carlson and others illustrated the tension within the GOP a year after the Capitol attacks, as many Republicans take care not to attack the former president or his supporters, who still hold remarkable sway within the party.

Cruz had repeatedly called it a terrorist attack before recanting Thursday.

“What happened at the Capitol

was a despicable act of terrorism,” Cruz said in an interview with Hearst Newspapers two days after the riot. “The violent criminals who attacked the Capitol should be fully prosecuted and they should go to jail for a very, very long time.”

Cruz sparked the outrage during a Senate Rules Committee hearing Wednesday with Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger.

“We are approaching a solemn anniversary this week and it is an anniversary of a violent terrorist attack on the Capitol, where we saw the men and women of law enforcement demonstrate incredible courage, incredible bravery, risk their lives to defend the men and women who serve in this Capitol,” Cruz said.