Republican Senator Ted Cruz reportedly hid in a supply closet during the January 6, 2021 riots on the U.S. Capitol, according to his new book Justice Corrupted: How the Left Weaponized Our Legal System.
In his book, he wrote that on the day in question, “There was a commotion from outside the [Senate] chamber. Suddenly, Capitol Police officers rushed in and hastily escorted the vice president off the dais. Shortly thereafter, we paused the proceedings [of debating about the 2020 Election results].”
“In the fog of the confusion, it was difficult to tell what exactly was happening. We were informed that a riot had broken out and that rioters were attempting to violently breach the Capitol building,” Cruz wrote, according to Newsweek. “At first, Capitol Police instructed us to remain on the Senate floor. And so we did. Then, a few minutes later, they instructed us to evacuate rapidly.”
As the Senators were led to a “secure location,” “tempers were high,” Cruz wrote. “[Several senators were] blaming us explicitly for the violence that was occurring…. While we waited for the Capitol to be secured, I assembled our coalition in a back room (really, a supply closet with stacked chairs) to discuss what we should do next.
“Several members of the group argued that in the face of the riot, we should suspend our objections and vote to certify the election. I understood the sentiment,” Cruz wrote, “but I vehemently disagreed with it. I urged my colleagues that the course of action we were advocating was the right and principled one.”
In this case, “the right and principled” action was apparently to vote against certifying the 2020 election, even though no evidence has ever given any reason to doubt the election’s results. Eight Senate Republicans and 139 House Republicans voted against fully certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory on January 6, 2021 — Cruz was one of the senators. He is up for re-election in 2025.
After the 2020 election, Cruz repeated then-President Donald Trump’s numerous unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud. Cruz also supported a lawsuit to void absentee ballots and approved of an attempt to stop four states — Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin — from using the election’s results to appoint electors. These two efforts failed.
Over the weekend, Cruz attended a New York City baseball game between the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees. A cellphone video showed Yankees fans booing him, flipping him off, yelling curse words at him, calling him a “loser” and a “traitor.” ing him out.