Tag: Ted Cruz

Sen. Ted Cruz’s COVID-19 ’Guarantee’ Comes Back To Haunt Him Exactly 1 Year Later

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The Texas Republican’s prediction was “utterly, completely, in every possible conceivable way wrong,” said MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Thursday reminded Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) of his exactly year-old “astoundingly, beautifully wrong” prediction that Democrats would forget about the COVID-19 pandemic if Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

“If it ends up that Biden wins in November — I hope he doesn’t, I don’t think he will — but if he does, I guarantee you the week after the election, suddenly all those Democratic governors, all those Democratic mayors will say everything’s magically better,” Cruz predicted.

“You won’t even have to wait for Biden to be sworn in,” the Donald Trump apologist continued. “All they’ll need is Election Day and suddenly their willingness to just destroy people’s lives and livelihoods, they will have accomplished their task. That’s wrong, it’s cynical and we shouldn’t be a part of it.” Continue reading.

Ted Cruz is blocking diplomats from being confirmed, and it has nothing to do with their qualifications

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WASHINGTON — An extraordinary effort by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas to block nominees from being confirmed to vital jobs in the State Department is creating hurdles for the Biden administration and hindering US diplomacy, according to Democrats and Republicans who spoke to CNN.

The Biden administration — with about 60 State Department nominees waiting to be confirmed — is encountering greater roadblocks in securing Senate confirmations at State than at any other agency. Administration officials and Democrats point to Republicans, who admit they’re playing a role. But sources from all three groups say the bulk of the blame should be placed on Cruz.

The junior senator from Texas has become the public face of the State Department’s difficulties, proudly claiming responsibility for blocks on a slew of senior officials. Cruz is trying to pressure the administration on a specific point of Russia policy, a campaign that other Republicans say is fruitless and that triggered a fiery shouting match with Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat who’s the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Rep. Eric Swalwell says Cruz and Gaetz are like WWE wrestlers and behind closed doors Cruz told him he was doing a great job as an impeachment manager

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California likened several outspoken GOP lawmakers — namely Rep. Matt Gaetz, Sen. Ted Cruz, and Rep. Jim Jordan — to professional wrestlers, saying they were simply putting on an act on social media and television.

Speaking with the anti-Trump group MeidasTouch in a podcast released Tuesday, Swalwell said many of his colleagues were “better suited to work at the WWE” and were trying to give viewers “what they think the fans want.”

He said he had worked with Gaetz before the rise of Trumpism in the US and observed that Gaetz would turn into a character and “laugh at himself about how stupid he had to act to keep the act going.” Continue reading.

State, Dems call out Cruz over holds ahead of key Russian talks

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The State Department and Senate Democrats are calling out Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for holding up confirmation votes on key members of President Biden’s national security team. 

They are particularly criticizing Cruz for his hold on Bonnie Jenkins, who Biden nominated as under secretary of State for arms control and international security affairs.

U.S. and Russian officials are expected to meet on July 28 for the first Strategic Stability Dialogue on nuclear nonproliferation talks, which was announced during Biden’s first face-to-face summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin next month. Continue reading.

Ted Cruz brings lawsuit demanding Trump be able to pay himself back millions he gave to his campaign

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is further attempting to prove he’s pals with Donald Trump after launching a lawsuit appealed to the Supreme Court that Trump and other candidates should be able to pay themselves back the millions of dollars they use to self-fund their campaigns.

Trump loaned his campaign $10.8 million in 2015, and by March 2016, he’d given his campaign $38 million. Trump even went so far as to claim that he was willing to spend as much as $100 million of his own money to win in 2016. He didn’t ultimately give that much officially, but it was certainly a lot, particularly given the hush-money payments uncovered. 

Cruz claims that the McCain-Feingold Law violates the First Amendment by limiting to $250,000 fundraising to repay loans a candidate makes to his or her own federal campaign. Continue reading.

Man charged with bringing molotov cocktails to Capitol on Jan. 6 has Texas militia ties, contacted Ted Cruz’s office, court papers allege

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An Alabama man charged with bringing five loaded firearms and 11 molotov cocktails with napalm-like properties to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 approached Sen. Ted Cruz’s Washington home and office weeks earlier to discuss “election fraud” and previously joined an armed-citizen camp at the Texas border, new court filings alleged Monday.

The new U.S. allegations came in a federal judge’s ruling ordering the continued detention of Lonnie Leroy Coffman, of Falkville, Ala., citing evidence that he had potential plans to coordinate with others and was prepared for political violence.

The 71-year-old Army veteran is awaiting trial on charges of possessing some of the deadliest unregistered weapons and explosives on the day of the riots that breached the Capitol, led to assaults on nearly 140 police officers and forced the evacuation of Congress. Continue reading.

Sen. Ted Cruz insulted a ‘woke, emasculated’ U.S. Army ad. Angry veterans fired back.

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The first half of the TikTok video shows a muscular Russian man with a shaved head doing push-ups, jumping out of a plane, and staring down the scope of a rifle. The second half shows a brightly animated U.S. Army ad telling the true story of Cpl. Emma Malonelord, a soldier who enlisted after being raised by two mothers in California and graduating at the top of her high school class.

The U.S. Army said its ad showcases the “the deeply emotional and diverse” backgrounds of its soldiers. But to Sen. Ted Cruz, who retweeted the TikTok on Thursday, the contrast with Russia’s campaign instead made American soldiers “into pansies.”

“Holy crap,” Cruz said in his viral tweet. “Perhaps a woke, emasculated military is not the best idea …” Continue reading.

‘A child froze to death’: Ted Cruz smacked down after he jokes about ‘awesome’ Cancun vacation

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) faced a scolding online on Tuesday after he joked about “awesome” Cancun vacations.

Earlier this year, Cruz fled to Cancun as Texas was facing massive power outages due to a winter storm.

The senator was defiant about the vacation as he shared a tweet promoting “awesome” trips to Cancun on Tuesday. Continue reading.

Watch: Ted Cruz walks out of gun violence hearing after Democrat stops him from hijacking the agenda

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On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on gun violence, including discussion of “ghost guns” — which are illegal firearms that are made at home and don’t have a serial number. But Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, during the hearing, wanted to change the subject — and instead of addressing gun violence and “ghost guns,” the far-right senator obsessed over Democrats he claimed were trying to “abolish the police.”

The slogan “defund the police” was used by some protesters following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis almost a year ago on May 25, 2020. But the term is by no means universally embraced by advocates of criminal justice reform, including those in the Democratic Party. MSNBC’s the Rev. Al Sharpton, for example, has said that he opposes defunding the police and favors “reforming the police” instead. But far-right Republicans have been harping on that “defund the police” slogan to scare people, and Cruz takes it a step further by claiming that Democrats want to “abolish the police.

During the hearing, Cruz asked Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, “If you don’t support abolishing the police, why do you keep voting for nominees who advocate abolishing the police?” The nominees Cruz was trying to smear were Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta and attorney Kristen Clarke, who President Joe Biden has nominated for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. Continue reading.

Watch: A fake Trump supporter tricks Ted Cruz into bragging about his role in pushing the big lie

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U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) was caught on camera bragging that he “led the objections” on January 6 to try to overturn a free and fair election. Cruz has been highlighted, along with U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), as the top leaders who “amplified claims of election fraud” that “resulted in threats of violence against state and local officials around the country,” according to an ethics complaint filed by seven Democratic Senators.

Lauren Windsor, who describes herself as an undercover reporter for The Undercurrent and runs a site dedicated to helping victims of Project Veritas, pretended to be a far right wing voter and asked Senator Cruz why he “didn’t do more to fight for President Trump on January 6.”

Cruz on camera brags that he “led the objections but the Senate voted it down.” Continue reading.