Sen. Ted Cruz, a longtime ally of conservative Christians, was abruptly cut off during a speech about religious liberties at the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
The Republican Texan had been wrapping up his nine-minute speech to attendees at the event when his microphone was unexpectedly turned off.
“So what I want to say to the men and women here are two things: number one, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for your prayers, thank you for your passion, thank you for your time, thank you for your energy, thank you for speaking out and working to retake our nation,” Cruz said.
Suddenly, the senator’s speech was drowned out by the announcer, who proceeded to introduce the next speaker, Virginia Galloway from Faith and Freedom Coalition, not realizing Cruz had yet to share his second point.
Sen. @TedCruz is cut off in the middle of his remarks at the @FaithandFreedom Coalition Conference. Full video here: https://t.co/567TOaf01u pic.twitter.com/J0BK9J9nhe— CSPAN (@cspan) June 8, 2017
Cruz continued to speak for a moment before realizing the audience could not hear him. He shrugged his head before leaving the stage, unable to finish his message.
A spokesperson for the conference said the incident was an accident.
“Senator Cruz had not completed his remarks when a member of the audio-visual team mistakenly announced the next speaker. We sincerely apologize to Senator Cruz who is a great friend of this organization and people of faith across the country,” the FFC said in a statement.
