Thursday night, Fox News Host Tucker Carlson had Texas Senator Ted Cruz flailing to explain his rhetoric towards the Jan. 6 riot. Prior to the one-year anniversary of the Capitol riot, Sen. Cruz described the event as a “violent terrorist attack” during a Senate Rules Committee hearing surprising his Republican colleagues.
“We are approaching a solemn anniversary this week,” Senator Cruz said. “And it is an anniversary of a violent terrorist attack on the Capitol, where we saw the men and women of law enforcement demonstrate incredible courage, incredible bravery — risk their lives for the Capitol.”
During, the Senator’s time on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” the host pushed back against Cruz’s language, especially when he attempted to claim it was merely a simple word slip.
According to Townhall:
“The way I phrased things yesterday, it was sloppy and frankly dumb, and–,” the senator said.
Carlson pushed back that Cruz is known for his careful wording and didn’t believe he simply messed up.
“I’ve known you a long time since before you went to the Senate. You were a Supreme Court contender,” Carlson continued. “You take words as seriously as any man who’s ever served in the Senate … I do not believe that you used that accidentally. I just don’t.”
“As a result of my sloppy phrasing, it’s caused a lot of people to misunderstand what I meant. Let me tell you what I meant to say. I was referring to … the limited number of people who engaged in violent attacks against police officers … I’ve drawn a distinction. I wasn’t saying that the thousands of peaceful protesters supporting Donald Trump are somehow terrorists. I wasn’t saying the millions of patriots across the country supporting President Trump are terrorists, and that’s what a lot of people have misunderstood.”
Carlson still pushed back against Cruz’s claim and accused the Texas Republican of “playing into the other side’s characterization [of Jan. 6 that] allows them to define an entire population as foreign combatants.” Cruz then noted that he has repeatedly referred to anyone who assaults police officers as terrorists.
“I’ve used that word for people that violently assault cops. I used that word all in 2020 for the antifa and BLM terrorists that assaulted cops and firebombed police cars, but I agree it was a mistake to use the word yesterday, because the Democrats and the corporate media have so politicized it,” Cruz said.
“I guess I just don’t believe you,” he declared, “because I have such respect for your acuity and your precision, and I’ve seen it on display. I’ve covered you as a reporter. I know how you speak, and you have sat there for a year and watched people use language to distort the events of that day.”
Watch the entire back-and-forth HERE.
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