![]() ![]() “A lot of Texans are hurting and this crisis is frustrating. The senator was accompanied by a Spanish-speaking man wearing a black polo shirt with the name and logo of The Ritz-Carlton hotel chain.Ĭruz told reporters that he planned to “go home and keep working to get the grid reopened, to get power restored, to get the water back on.” He wore a golf shirt, jeans and a face mask in the style of the Texas state flag. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises people who have traveled during the pandemic to get a coronavirus test three to five days after their return and to quarantine for a full week, regardless of the test results.Ĭruz checked in for his return flight Thursday afternoon in Cancun and walked briskly through the terminal pulling a roller bag to security. Capitol Police officials and the Senate sergeant-at-arms have encouraged lawmakers and their staff to be conscious of potential threats and to consider advising law enforcement about their travel at airports and other transportation hubs.Ĭruz’s office did not immediately say whether the senator would self-quarantine. Silva could not say whether such requests are typical for Cruz’s travel or whether his staff had made a similar request for his return flight. She said officers “monitored his movements” while Cruz was at the airport. Ted Cruz nor does anyone at the White House,” Psaki said, adding that President Joe Biden’s administration is focused on “working directly with leadership in Texas and surrounding states on addressing the winter storm and the crisis at hand.”Ĭruz’s office declined to answer specific questions about the family vacation, but his staff reached out to the Houston Police Department on Wednesday afternoon to say the senator would be arriving at the airport, according to department spokesperson Jodi Silva. “I don’t have any updates on the exact location of Sen. Hundreds of thousands of people in Texas woke up Thursday to a fourth day without power, and a water crisis was unfolding after winter storms wreaked havoc on the state’s power grid and utilities. “I’m here trying to take care of my family and look after my friends and others that are still without power,” West said. “That’s something that he has to answer to his constituents about,” Texas GOP Chair Allen West said when asked whether Cruz’s travel was appropriate while Texans are without power and water. Billboards calling for his resignation stood along Texas highways earlier in the month.Įven the state Republican Party chair declined to come to Cruz’s defense on Thursday. ![]() More recently, he emerged as a leader in former President Donald Trump’s push to overturn the results of the November election. He was already one of the most villainized Republicans in Congress, having created adversaries across the political spectrum in a career defined by far-right policies and fights with the establishment. every time you think ‘man this guy could not be a bigger piece of shit’ he goes and one-ups himself,” tweeted LaLiga Zone host Aaron West.The fierce political backlash comes as Cruz eyes a second presidential run in 2024. And he went *anyway.* That, to me, is the truly revealing piece here,” wrote University of Texas at Austin law professor Steve Vladeck. ![]() ![]() “Ted Cruz is many things, but he’s not oblivious enough (and even if he is, his *staff* certainly isn’t) to think that no one would notice him on a commercial flight to Cancun or in the airport on either end. should be on the phone with federal agencies, not on a trip to Mexico,” said former San Antonio mayor (and 2020 presidential hopeful) Julián Castro. “In crises like these, members of Congress play a critical role connecting their constituents to emergency services and assistance. Complete and utter hypocrites.” Apparently, though, the Texas senator’s full rule is actually “Don’t travel during a pandemic, unless there’s also a state of emergency and millions of your constituents are without heat and power, in which case get on the next flight to Mexico.” He hasn’t written it on his website or anything, but it’s clearly his policy, hence his decision to jet off to Cancún for some R&R on Wednesday in the midst of a full-blown crisis in Texas that’s shown no signs of abating.Ĭruz, quite reasonably, has been on the receiving end of a whole bunch of condemnation for his little getaway. Criticizing Austin mayor Steve Adler and other Democrats for traveling and not following coronavirus guidelines as the pandemic surged, Cruz tweeted, “Hypocrites. Back in December, Texas senator Ted Cruz seemingly laid down a hard-and-fast rule for politicians and travel during the pandemic: Don’t do it. ![]()
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