Senator Cruz (R-Texas) received criticism after a Wednesday U.S. Senate Committee hearing regarding last year’s January 6 U.S. Capitol protests after he described the event as a “violent terrorist attack.”
Cruz made the comments as he acknowledged the first anniversary of what he called a “violent terrorist attack on the Capitol where we saw the men and women of law enforcement … risk their lives to defend the men and women who serve in this Capitol.”
His words drew a quick backlash from TV pundits and other conservatives, leading Cruz to explain his remarks the following day.
Senator Cruz appeared on the FOX News show Tucker Carlson Tonight on Thursday to clarify his comments, where he called his own words “frankly dumb” and “sloppy,” explaining he only referred to the protestors who “attacked police during the riot.”
“For a decade, I have referred to people who violently assault police officers as terrorists. I’ve done so over and over and over again,” Cruz said.
He then shared a video of his appearance on Twitter, captioning it by saying, “yesterday, I used a dumb choice of words, and unfortunately, a lot of people are misunderstanding what I meant.”
Carlson was one of the TV pundits who criticized Cruz for his words.
“What the hell’s going on here?” Carlson said on his Wednesday episode in reference to Cruz’s comments.
“You’re making us think maybe the Republican Party is as worthless as we suspected it was. That can’t be true. Reassure us, please, Ted Cruz,” he continued.
Senator Cruz said he asked Carlson to join him on his show Thursday to clarify his words. Cruz mentioned he understood why many were angry that he used the word “terrorist” but emphasized he would never use that word to describe the “patriots” who were at the Capitol to protest the presidential election results.
Cruz pointed out that when the Capitol was breached, he was on the floor of Congress objecting to the certification of Arizona’s election results. He was one of several Republicans from Texas who opposed President Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump and promoted claims of widespread voter fraud.
“It would be ridiculous for me to be saying that the people standing up and protesting to follow the law were somehow terrorists,” he said. “I was talking about people who commit violence against cops.”
Senator Cruz said he was “not arguing for setting aside the results of the election,” rather, he was objecting because of how many Americans had concerns about voter fraud.
The group of people that breached the Capitol were protesting the certification of the 2020 election. Some members of the group attacked police officers and caused damage to the Capitol.
The man is a coward and embarrassment to our country. Sorry this state can’t see he is only about Ted.