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

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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.

Why it matters that some GOP senators huddled with Trump’s lawyers

Graham, Lee, and Cruz aren’t just ignoring their impeachment oath, they’re flaunting their indifference to their responsibilities.

Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment proceedings is only a “trial” in a colloquial sense. Many Americans have some sense of how a case is tried in court, and this isn’t it.

Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.), for example, is overseeing the proceedings, while also serving as a “juror.” He’s also, incidentally, a witness to the crime. In fact, in this case, each of the jurors are witnesses, which in a normal trial would never be permissible.

And because the usual rules and procedures of an American trial do not apply to the Senate’s impeachment proceedings, it stands to reason that there will be dramatic differences in how senators approach their responsibilities. But by any sensible measure, it’s tough to defend tactics like these. Continue reading.

Cruz: “I Did My Duty” By Trying To Void Election Result

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) claims that he was doing his “duty” when he objected to certified election results showing Joe Biden had been elected president, as part of an attempt to overturn the election the Republican Party lost.

Cruz appeared on the syndicated “Joe Pags Show” and was asked by the host if he felt he had done “something wrong” by objecting to the certification of voting results on Jan. 6.

“I did my duty,” Cruz replied, adding, “I stood up and fought for the men and women of Texas, for 29 million Texans.” Continue reading.

Democrats file ethics complaints against Hawley and Cruz, but action unlikely

Secretive ethics committee last took public action in 2018

Seven Democratic senators are asking the chamber’s ethics committee to investigate Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley for objecting to the Electoral College certification of President Joe Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, a day in which a violent pro-Trump group of insurrectionists invaded the Capitol.

It is doubtful that the committee, which took no disciplinary actions in 2019 — the most recent year for which an annual report is available — and dismissed almost all of the 251 complaints it received that year, will venture into a complaint that is light on alleged ethics violations.

Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Tina Smith of Minnesota, with five of their colleagues, wrote to Chairman Chris Coons, D-Del., and Vice Chairman James Lankford, R-Okla., alleging that Hawley and Cruz “lent legitimacy to the mob’s cause and made future violence more likely.” Continue reading.

Senate Democrats file ethics complaint against Hawley, Cruz over Capitol attack

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Seven Senate Democrats are asking the Ethics Committee to open an investigation into GOP Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Ted Cruz (Texas) over the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

The senators filed a complaint on Thursday with the committee asking that it probe whether Hawley and Cruz’s objections to the Electoral College results violated the chamber’s ethics rules.

“The Senate Ethics Committee should investigate their conduct to fully understand their role. The actions of which we know demand an investigation and a determination whether disciplinary action is warranted.  Until then, a cloud of uncertainty will hang over them and over this body,” the senators wrote. Continue reading.

Hawley, Cruz face rising anger, possible censure

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Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) are facing a possible vote on a censure resolution in the Senate as Democrats and some Republicans blame them for the mob that attacked the Capitol last week.

Several Democratic senators have called on Hawley and Cruz to resign and Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) have called for them to be expelled if they don’t step down voluntarily.

Democratic aides say there is a discussion about censuring the two lawmakers for helping to incite protesters who temporarily halted the counting of the Electoral College last week after overrunning Capitol Police. Continue reading.

Trump, Hawley and Cruz will each wear the scarlet ‘S’ of a seditionist

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The three repulsive architects of Wednesday’s heartbreaking spectacle — mobs desecrating the Republic’s noblest building and preventing the completion of a constitutional process — must be named and forevermore shunned. They are Donald Trump, and Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz.

Trump lit the fuse for the riot in the weeks before the election, with his successful effort to delegitimize the election in the eyes of his supporters. But Wednesday’s explosion required the help of Hawley (R-Mo.) and Cruz (R-Tex.).

Hawley announced his intention to object to the certification of some states’ electoral votes, for no better reason than that there has been an avalanche of “allegations” of election irregularities, allegations fomented by the loser of the election. By doing so, Hawley turned what should have been a perfunctory episode in our civic liturgy of post-election civility into a synthetic drama. He turned this moment into the focus of the hitherto unfocused fury that Trump had been stoking for many weeks. Continue reading.

Cruz Threatens To Hold Up Biden Nominees Until Trump Concedes

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) plans to obstruct every one of President-elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet confirmations unless Donald Trump concedes.

Trump, of course, has vowed never to do so.

“As long as there’s litigation ongoing, and the election result is disputed, I do not think you will see the Senate act to confirm any nominee,” Cruz said in an Axios interview on Wednesday. Continue reading.

Conservative law professor slams Ted Cruz’s push to throw our out 6.9 million Pennsylvania votes

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Pennsylvania is among the battleground states where President Donald Trump and his Republican supporters have been trying to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election. So far, Republican lawsuits in Pennsylvania — where President-elect Joe Biden won 20 electoral votes — have been unsuccessful. But Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is saying that if one of those lawsuits makes it to the U.S. Supreme Court, he would make the oral arguments in favor of it. And one of the people on the right who is slamming Cruz for making that offer is Kimberly Wehle, a conservative law professor.

On Monday, December 7, Cruz told Fox News, ” (The) petitioner’s legal team has asked me whether I would be willing to argue the case before the Supreme Court, if the Court grants certiorari. I have agreed, and told them that, if the Court takes the appeal, I will stand ready to present the oral argument.”

The two-term Texas senator added, “As I said last week, the bitter division and acrimony we see across the Nation needs resolution. I believe the Supreme Court has a responsibility to the American people to ensure, within its powers, that we are following the law and following the Constitution.” Continue reading.

Donald Trump says Ted Cruz — yes, that Ted Cruz — is on his list of potential second-term Supreme Court picks

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President Donald Trump on Wednesday named U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as a potential nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Trump included Cruz among 20 possible picks for the high court if Trump wins a second term in November and a seat later becomes open. The 20 new names come in addition to a group of prospective justices that Trump named during the 2016 campaign — and has since drawn from to fill two vacancies on the court.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday named U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as a potential nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Trump included Cruz among 20 possible picks for the high court if Trump wins a second term in November and a seat later becomes open. The 20 new names come in addition to a group of prospective justices that Trump named during the 2016 campaign — and has since drawn from to fill two vacancies on the court. Continue reading.