Ted Cruz still eyeing 2024 despite blowback for riot, calls Trump impeachment ‘petty’ and ‘vindictive’

WASHINGTON — Shrugging off resignation demands and withering criticism since the Capitol riot two weeks ago, Sen. Ted Cruz said Wednesday that his detractors should get used to having him around, because “I’m not going anywhere.”

The Texas Republican also vowed to oppose the impeachment of now ex-president Donald Trump for inciting insurrection.

“It’s unfortunate that Democratic partisans cannot get past their hatred for Donald Trump,” Cruz said as lawmakers gathered for President Joe Biden’s inauguration. “Impeaching and trying a president after he has left office is petty, vindictive, mean spirited, and divisive. Unfortunately it’s par for the course with how the Democrats are approaching this moment.”

The same Jan. 6 riot that prompted House Democrats to impeach Trump cast a pall over Cruz’s presidential ambitions. The Texas Democratic Party has demanded he give up his Senate seat, arguing that no one involved in sedition should hold such an office. Some Democratic members of Congress and outside pressure groups have echoed the demands.

Thousands of lawyers and law students have signed petitions demanding Cruz be disbarred.

“You won’t be able to wash off the stain of sedition. It, and the deaths you caused and the deep damage to our democracy you made possible, will be on you forever,” Beto O’Rourke, the former El Paso congressman who nearly unseated Cruz in 2018, responded to a Cruz tweet from the inauguration.

Cruz had posted a photo of Biden taking the oath as president, with an ambiguous comment: “May God bless the United States of America.”

Trump stoked the anger of the mob that stormed the Capitol, interrupting a joint session of Congress as it reviewed Biden’s Electoral College victory.

Cruz didn’t address that crowd. Unlike Trump, he quickly condemned the violence. But he had spent weeks echoing Trump’s disproven allegations about election fraud. He volunteered to argue Trump’s side if the Supreme Court agreed to hear a lawsuit filed by Texas attorney general Ken Paxton challenging Biden wins in four states.

And ahead of the Jan. 6 Electoral College review, Cruz rounded up a group of 11 GOP senators vowing to object to Biden’s victory; some backed out after the riot.

“The people of Texas elected me and sent me here to fight for 29 million Texans. And that’s a responsibility I take very seriously,” Cruz said, responding to the calls to resign.

The riot also dimmed presidential speculation regarding Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley. He and Cruz were the top Senate advocates for Electoral College nullification, and both were seen as using that stance to court Trump and his supporters ahead of a White House run.

Hawley’s fist pumping gesture of solidarity with rioters has made him even more toxic among fellow Republicans, though both are in the dog house.

Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a moderate Democrat, said Sunday that the Senate should consider expulsion of both Republicans, citing the 14th Amendment prohibition on service by anyone who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion.”

Cruz was presiding over the Senate on Tuesday when Sen. Mitch McConnell, the GOP leader, denounced Trump for inciting the riot.

“The mob was fed lies,” McConnell said. “They were provoked by the president and other powerful people” — a comment widely taken as a reference to Cruz, among others.

Cruz was Trump’s runner-up in 2016.

He didn’t rule out a 2024 run on Wednesday, indicating that his calculus may hinge on how the post-Trump era plays out.

“I worry what the next two years will hold with a Biden administration and Democratic control of both houses of Congress,” he said, voicing doubt about the new president’s sincerity about working across party lines as a captive of the “angry left.”

“I fear that we are going to see a radical agenda being forced on the country,” Cruz said, sporting a gray mask emblazoned with “Come and Take It” and a cannon — the defiant flag of Gonzales — for the inaugural.

As for impeachment, Cruz wouldn’t say whether he’ll reprise the role of outspoken Trump defender that he played during the first impeachment a year ago, though it’s clear Trump can count on his vote to acquit.

“Impeachment is a mistake. … The challenges in this country are serious enough that I believe, to coin a phrase, it’s time to move on,” he said.

He was alluding to MoveOn.org, the liberal powerhouse that began with a petition urging lawmakers to forgo impeachment of Bill Clinton for lying about a sexual liaison with a White House intern: “Censure President Clinton and Move On to Pressing Issues Facing the Nation.”

But Democrats “don’t seem to be trying to bring people together. They don’t seem to be interested in unity or healing,” Cruz said. “Rather, they seem to be wanting to salt the earth and destroy all their enemies.”

All 13 Texas Democrats in the House voted to impeach. All but one of the 23 Republicans voted against impeachment, and the one who didn’t was quarantining and said she would have joined her colleagues.

Sen. John Cornyn, who is close to McConnell, did not object to Biden’s electors and hasn’t said explicitly how he intends to vote on impeachment, though he sees “serious questions” about the constitutionality of a Senate trial after a president has left office.

“I’ve heard people talk about a vote of conscience,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “I think that’s a good way to put it…. I’m going to listen to what’s presented.”