Category: US Senate

Texas lawyer fired for Capitol assault dumped by pro-Trump groups trying to prove election fraud: report

A Texas attorney who was quickly fired as counsel for an insurance companyafter he posted a video of himself taking part in the Jan. 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that forced lawmakers to flee for their lives is once again out of a job after new clients alleging election fraud fired him too.

Two days after the Capitol riot, attorney Paul Davis was let go by Goosehead Insurance after proudly posting video of himself at the protest that turned into a riot, saying, “The fact that they will not let us inspect any of the ballots or the machines should tell you something. We’re all trying to get into the Capitol to stop this and this is what’s happening, they’re tear-gassing us.”

Since that time, he signed on with lawyer Kellye SoRelle in a lawsuit, described by Above the Law as, “seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.” Continue reading.

‘Nitwit’ Donald Trump Jr faces brutal backlash for ‘idiotic’ defense of Ted Cruz’s Cancun vacation

Donald Trump Jr.’s attempt to weigh in on Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) public relations debacle after he was busted fleeing frozen and devastated Texas with his family for a luxury resort in Cancun did not go well when the son of the ex-president couldn’t get simple facts straight.

While most Republicans are keeping their distance from Cruz — who is already in apology mode — Don Jr. felt the need to jump in on Cruz’s side and it didn’t go well.

“The hypocrisy of those trying to cancel Ted Cruz who have been totally silent on their Democrat Governor’s incompetence is telling. My thoughts on the Cancún Cruz fauxoutrage! #Cruz #CancunGate is fake,” he wrote — which led to more than a little confusion over what a “Democrat Governor’s incompetence” had to do with the collapse of the Texas power grid and the outrage is fake. Continue reading.

GOP’s Thune says Trump allies engaging in ‘cancel culture’

PIERRE, S.D. — U.S. Sen. John Thune is criticizing Republican activists and party leaders for engaging in “cancel culture” by rushing to censure GOP senators who found former President Donald Trump guilty of inciting an insurrection.

In his first interview since he voted to acquit Trump, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican on Thursday defended fellow Republicans who sided with Democrats on the “vote of conscience” and warned against shutting out dissenting voices in the party.

“There was a strong case made,” Thune said of the Democrats’ impeachment presentation. “People could come to different conclusions. If we’re going to criticize the media and the left for cancel culture, we can’t be doing that ourselves.” Continue reading.

Judge says Capitol riot suspects ‘zip tie guy’ and his mom must stay in custody

Tennessean Logo

In a blistering opinion Wednesday, a federal judge said a Nashville man and his mother, charged in the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol, must stay in custody because their release on bail would threaten national security.

Eric Munchel, dubbed “zip tie guy” in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection, and his mother Lisa Eisenhart will be held until their trials. Federal prosecutors say they were part of the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol to stop lawmakers from certifying the election of President Joe Biden.

Investigators identified Munchel, 30, and Eisenhart, 56, in video footage from the riot. Munchel was seen inside the Capitol carrying plastic handcuffs, wearing a tactical vest, with a taser holstered on his right hip and an iPhone strapped to his chest, facing outward. Continue reading.

While Ted Cruz was rushing back to America, AOC raised $1 million for the people of Texas

Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz and right wing extremists Erick Erickson, Dinesh D’Souza, Ben Shapiro, and Donald Trump, Jr., all thought there was nothing a sitting U.S. Senator could do for the millions of people freezing and starving in the Lone Star State.

After massive internet outrage – outrage that was called “cancel culture” today in a rant from Trump Jr. – Senator Cruz hightailed it back to America from his Cancun crash pad at the Ritz Carlton, put out a statement lying about the origins of his Mexico excursion, literally lied some more, and came home to a his Houston home that was empty except for his dog Snowflake and his security guard hanging out in his car in the driveway.

While the Texas Senator was doing all this, a Congresswoman from New York City went to work for his constituents, because someone had to. Continue reading.

Ted Cruz abandoned his poodle ‘Snowflake’ in a ‘freezing’ house for Cancun vacation: report

The political optics of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) fleeing Texas for a Cancun vacation while millions in Texas were without electricity and/or water continues to get worse.

Michael Hardy, a reporter for New York Magazine, investigated the claims that the Cruz house did not have power. In text messages reviewed by The New York Times, the senator’s wife Heidi said the house was “freezing.”

“Supplied with Cruz’s address by a knowledgeable friend, I drove the fifteen minutes from my Houston apartment to the uber-rich River Oaks neighborhood where Cruz lives,” Hardy explained. “From the street, Cruz’s white, Colonial Revival-style mansion looked dark and uninhabited. A neighbor informed me that the block had indeed lost power before finally getting it back late Wednesday night. A glance at the lighted lanterns flanking the doorways of other homes on the block confirmed this. The senator’s story appeared to check out. But then I heard barking and noticed a small, white dog looking out the bottom right pane of glass in the senator’s front door. Had Cruz left his dog behind?” Continue reading.

Ted Cruz’s Cancún Trip: Family Texts Detail His Political Blunder

New York Times logo

The Texas senator faced fierce blowback for fleeing his state as a disaster unfolded. Text messages sent by his wife revealed a hastily planned trip away from their “FREEZING” family home.

Like millions of his constituents across Texas, Senator Ted Cruz had a frigid home without electricity this week amid the state’s power crisis. But unlike most, Mr. Cruz got out, fleeing Houston and hopping a Wednesday afternoon flight to Cancún with his family for a respite at a luxury resort.

Photos of Mr. Cruz and his wife, Heidi, boarding the flight ricocheted quickly across social media and left both his political allies and rivals aghast at a tropical trip as a disaster unfolded at home. The blowback only intensified after Mr. Cruz, a Republican, released a statement saying he had flown to Mexico “to be a good dad” and accompany his daughters and their friends; he noted he was flying back Thursday afternoon, though he did not disclose how long he had originally intended to stay.

Text messages sent from Ms. Cruz to friends and Houston neighbors on Wednesday revealed a hastily planned trip. Their house was “FREEZING,” as Ms. Cruz put it — and she proposed a getaway until Sunday. Ms. Cruz invited others to join them at the Ritz-Carlton in Cancún, where they had stayed “many times,” noting the room price this week ($309 per night) and its good security. The text messages were provided to The New York Times and confirmed by a second person on the thread, who declined to be identified because of the private nature of the texts. Continue reading.

Ted Cruz asks Houston cops to help him get out of airport as Texans rage over Cancun trip: report

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is flying home amid widespread outrage over his decision to fly to Cancun while millions of his residents are freezing amid mass power outages.

Now ABC News reporter Ben Siegel brings word that Cruz’s staff reached out to the Houston Police Department to see if they could supply personnel to help the senator make his way out of Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

“Cruz’s staff contacted HPD personnel at IAH on Wednesday… and requested assistance upon the Senator’s arrival at the airport,” Siegel reports. “HPD officers monitored his movements through the terminal.” Continue reading.

‘I don’t think he cares about winning’: McConnell ally realizes Trump is all ‘about himself’

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and former President Donald Trump exchanged barbs this week as their feud deepened. But some GOP strategists have realized that Trump may just be in it for himself, the Associated Press reported.

The conversation for the last several years from analysts has been about Trump’s selfishness, as the Milwaukee Independent described it, or his constant need for self-promotion, as biographer David Cay Johnston explained. 

Leading GOP strategists described the exploding feud between the former Republican president and the Senate’s most powerful Republican as, at best, a distraction and, at worst, a direct threat to the party’s path to the House and Senate majorities in next year’s midterms. Continue reading.

Where is Ted Cruz in the middle of Texas’ growing humanitarian crisis? Airport photos show him heading to Cancun

AlterNet logo

Texas state Republican lawmakers have been under intense scrutiny all week for their handling of the bitter and deadly winter storm still battering the Lone Star state. Now, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is facing backlash after photos purport to show him on a flight from Houston in the middle of a growing humanitarian crisis.

On Wednesday, Feb. 18, photos surfaced on Twitter of a couple bearing a striking resemblance to Cruz and his wife, Heidi. The two were at George Bush Intercontinental Airport preparing to board a flight to Cancun, Mexico. 

According to KSAT, Keith Edwards, who worked for Sen. Jon Ossoff’s campaign in Georgia, had “multiple people” confirming the man in the photos was Cruz.

Residents all over Texas are still suffering the unprecedented storm that swept the state this week. Millions of Texans also remain without power and food as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the state’s privatized and deregulated power grid, struggles to get power back on. Continue reading.