Cruz states his case
Texas senator stands by vote efforts, blasts Trump— but will backlash hurt him in long term?
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has sharpened his criticism of President Donald Trump, saying the president’s rhetoric “certainly contributed to the violence that occurred” as Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol on Wednesday.
But the Texas Republican — who led an effort in the Senate to delay certifying Trump’s loss — is showing no signs of contrition amid growing calls for his resignation as many blame him for stoking the post-election strife that culminated with the attack on the Capitol.
Cruz objected to Arizona’s electoral votes less than an hour before demonstrators breached the building, pointing to “unprecedented” — and unproven — allegations of voter fraud. Even some of Cruz’s Republican colleagues said he should have been working to dispel those allegations, rather than airing them in Congress.
Asked in an interview with Hearst Newspapers on Friday whether he believes there was widespread fraud in the election, Cruz responded: “I don’t know if there was sufficient fraud to alter the outcome, I have never said that there was. What I saidwas therewere serious allegations of fraud, and
those allegations need to be examined carefully.”
In objecting to Arizona’s results, Cruz was pushing for an “emergency audit,” which he argues could have provided the final say Trump supporters needed. His objectionwas initially supported by 10 other senators, though two changed their minds after the riot.
“It would have been a much better solution, it would have helped bring this country together, it would have helped heal the divisions we have in this country and help reestablish trust in our democratic system,” Cruz said. “What I was working to do is find a way to reestablish widespread trust in the system.”
Critics accuse Cruz of doing the opposite by ignoring the fact that Trump’s claims had been thrown out of dozens of courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. They call his objection a craven attempt to appeal to Trump supporters and raise money for his own presidential bid.
Calls were growing on Friday for Cruz to resign or be expelled from the Senate. At least two Democratic senators — PattyMurray of Washington and Chris Coons of Delaware — both called for Cruz and U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, another objector, to resign.
Republicans, too, have criticized Cruz. U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah said those who objected on Wednesday “will forever be seen as being complicit in an unprecedented attack on our democracy.” George Will, a conservative columnist, wrote in the Washington Post that Trump, Hawley and Cruz “each will wear a scarlet ‘S’ as a seditionist.”
Five people were killed in the riot, including a Capitol Police officer who was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher.
“Shame on you,” Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo tweeted on Friday, saying to Cruz “You fanned the flames ofmistrust and history will hold you accountable for the ensuing chaos. Outrageous!”
Cruz condemned the violence. “What happened at the Capitol was a despicable act of terrorism,” he said. “The violent criminals who attacked the Capitol should be fully prosecuted and they should go to jail for a very, very long time.”
‘Sticking with Ted Cruz’
Texas political experts and operatives say the blowback Cruz is facing now is unlikely to last as long as some expect.
“I’m not sure the criticism of some of his fellow Republicans, elites, or certainly Democrats, really make that much difference in the medium and long term,” said James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. “The only thing that’s ever really diluted the support of Republican voters in Texas for Cruzwaswhen he was crosswise with Trump, and he knows that — and we’re seeing evidence he knows that.”
Cruz’s approval rating among Republicans in Texas hit its lowest point — 55 percent — in June 2016, at the height of his primary battle with Trump, Henson said. By October 2018 it had risen back to 86 percent and Henson said it hasn’t wavered much since.
“I think that as far as the voters go, the people who decide primary elections in Texas and elect Republicans in Texas … many of them are sticking with President Trump still and sticking with Ted Cruz still,” said Brendan Steinhauser, a GOP strategist in Texas.
Steinhauser, who is an outspoken critic of Trump but a supporter of Cruz, said in his conversations with family, friends and other Republicans in Texas over the last 48 hours, “there are still just a huge number of people who are just backing up Donald Trump’s line on this.”
Still, Steinhauser said, it’s significant that criticismof Trump is growing among Republicans, including Cruz.
“Everybody in Texas, whether it’s going to getmy car fixed today, they’re talking about it. Going to get a drink with a friend last night, they’re talking about it,” Steinhauser said. “It’s not arguing about the ExIm Bank. Real people in Houston, Texas, are talking about this today.
“He probably does feel like he needs to explain himself.”
Trump called ‘reckless’
Cruz sought to clearly distinguish his objection and call for an election audit from Trump’s repeated claims that the race was stolen from him.
Cruz also put some blame on the president forwhat happened, though he said he does not support calls for Trump to be removed from office, saying it would not be helpful and the country “needs to heal.”
“The president’s language and rhetoric was reckless, it was not helpful,” he said. “At the end of the day, the criminals bear responsibility for their own conduct. But I do not believe the language the president used was helpful in defusing the situation.” He did not express any regrets. “What Iwas doing — presenting an argument on the Senate floor for legislation that would preserve and ensure the integrity of our elections, pursuant to federal law and the constitution — is precisely the opposite ofwhat the angry mob was trying to do,” Cruz said. “Debating and considering great issues is how our democratic system is supposed to function, it’s why we have a United States Senate: To peacefully and civilly come together and wrestle with difficult choices. It is the antithesis of angry mob violence, which I utterly condemn.”
Cruz said he doesn’t believe claims of fraud were given sufficient examination in court, because “a number of the lawsuits were dismissed on procedural grounds — on grounds that didn’t get to the merits, that didn’t actually examine the substance of the claims.
“Some of the legal teams presenting those cases were not the most effective litigation teams,” he said.
Cruz said he had hoped for the Supreme Court to take up the lawsuit, filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, that challenged the election results in four battleground states. That would have given the case a more public airing, he said.
“I believed having a credible tribunal consider the evidence on the merits and make a determination would go a long way toward building trust and confidence.”
Meanwhile, even Presidentelect Joe Biden took a swing at Cruz and Hawley on Friday, though he didn’t say they should resign.
“I think they should be just flat beatenthe next time they run,” Biden said. “I think the American public had a real good look atwho they are. They’re part of the big lie, the big lie.”
Bidenwent onto compareCruz and Hawley to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.
Cruz responded on Twitter: “Really sad. At a time of deep national division, President-elect Biden’s choice to call his political opponents literal Nazis does nothing to bring us together or promote healing. This kind of vicious partisan rhetoric only tears our country apart.”
“Debating and considering great issues is how our democratic system is supposed to function. … It is the antithesis of angry mob violence, which I utterly condemn.”
U.S. Sen Ted Cruz