WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Thursday claimed he made a “mistake” when, a day before, he described the Capitol riot as a “terrorist assault.”
In an interview, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson denounced Cruz for his comment and accused the GOP senator of telling a “lie.”
“The way I phrased factors yesterday, it was sloppy and it was frankly dumb,” Cruz said in the interview that aired on the anniversary of the riot. Cruz stated “as a outcome of my sloppy phrasing,” numerous folks misunderstood what he meant when he identified as it a terrorist assault.
“What I was referring to are the restricted selection of men and women who engaged in violent attacks versus police officers and I think you and I both agree that if you assault a police officer, you should go to jail. That is who I was speaking about,” he said. “I wasn’t expressing that the thousands of tranquil protesters supporting Donald Trump are by some means terrorists. I wasn’t declaring the thousands and thousands of patriots throughout the nation supporting President Trump are terrorists and that’s what a good deal of persons have misunderstood.”
Carlson shot back that attacking a law enforcement officer doesn’t make someone a terrorist: “How many men and women have been charged with terrorism on Jan. 6?”
“Tucker, I agree with you,” Cruz stated. “It was a mistake to say that yesterday.”
The Texas senator referred to the Jan. 6 riot as a terrorist assault all through a Senate listening to Wednesday showcasing testimony from Capitol Law enforcement Chief J. Thomas Manger.
Cruz, who was between 147 Republicans in Congress who voted on Jan. 6 to overturn Biden’s victory, stated at the listening to that the riot that working day was a “terrorist attack.” He stated that “any person who commits an genuine act of violence need to be prosecuted, and anyone who assaults a regulation enforcement officer really should go to jail for a quite long time. And I think that’s a principle that is correct, regardless of the politics of the violent criminal, no matter whether they are correct wing, left wing or they obtained no wings at all.”
The backlash to Cruz’s remark from conservative circles was swift, which includes on Carlson’s display Wednesday night and on previous Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s podcast.
Cruz has lengthy referred to the Jan. 6 rioters as terrorists, including in the hrs immediately after the riot took location. He referred to as it a “despicable act of terrorism” on Jan. 7, stated in a May perhaps push launch that it was a terrorist attack and named the riots “terrorists” in a local Tv set job interview.