Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz got blowback from some on the Right, including Fox News host Tucker Carlson, after he called the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol a “violent terrorist attack.”
“We are approaching a solemn anniversary this week. 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,” Cruz said at a Senate Rules Committee oversight hearing Wednesday with Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger discussing Jan. 6 security failures.
“It is also worth asking,” Cruz added, “What could have prevented the breach of the Capitol? What could have prevented the riot getting as far as it did?”
Cruz was one of eight senators to object to Electoral College results on Jan. 6. He notably joined Republican Rep. Paul Gosar in objecting to the Arizona Electoral College votes, which prompted a joint session of Congress to break up and debate the objection shortly before rioters breached the building. Cruz at the time did not argue for throwing out the results but for forming an election commission to evaluate claims of voter fraud.
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Cruz has called the Jan. 6 riot a terrorist attack in the past.
“No one anticipated a terrorist attack on the United States Capitol,” he said on an episode of his Verdict with Ted Cruz podcast that premiered Jan. 25, 2021.
He also used the phrasing in a local news interview in the days after the riot and in a May 28, 2021, press statement, saying he did not support a “politically motivated January 6 Commission.”
But his use of the phrasing on the eve of the riot anniversary received more attention and angered some on the Right.
Carlson used his show Wednesday night to criticize Cruz.
Tucker Carlson Calling Out Sen @tedcruz & The GOP For Repeating The Talking Points Of AG Garland About January 6th & Ignoring The Ray Epps Story
“What the hell is going on here? You’re making us think that maybe the Republican Party is as worthless as we suspected it was.” pic.twitter.com/HYumHcOoRM
— The Columbia Bugle ?? (@ColumbiaBugle) January 6, 2022
“Now, let’s be honest. Everybody who’s conservative appreciates Ted Cruz. We don’t like him, but you got to appreciate him. He’s legitimately smart, one of the most articulate people to serve in the Congress, maybe the most articulate. He doesn’t use a single word by accident,” Carlson said after playing a clip of Cruz. “Every word Ted Cruz uses is used intentionally. He’s a lawyer. He described Jan. 6 as a ‘violent terrorist attack.’”
“Of all the things Jan. 6 was, it was definitely not a violent terrorist attack. It wasn’t an insurrection. Was it a riot? Sure. It was not a violent terrorist attack. Sorry,” Carlson said.
“So why are you telling us that it was, Ted Cruz?” Carlson continued. “You’re making us think maybe the Republican Party is as worthless as we suspected it was.”
Other criticism of Cruz came earlier in the day on social media.
“The game is over, folks. Go home and get a life. You are wasting your time with the GOP,” tweeted Yossi Gestetner, director of the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council.
“With all due respect to Cruz, it’s difficult to see how ‘violent terrorist attack’ is either a descriptively accurate or a politically astute thing to say about J6. It is neither of those things,” added Newsweek opinion editor Josh Hammer.
With all due respect to Cruz, it’s difficult to see how “violent terrorist attack” is either a descriptively accurate or a politically astute thing to say about J6.
It is neither of those things. https://t.co/I6RrymBOCe
— Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) January 5, 2022
“Cruz also commends Capitol police — you know, the cop who executed a female veteran? Doesn’t mention her name,” tweeted American Greatness writer Julie Kelly, “Shameful performance today @SenTedCruz.”
Blaze TV host Steve Deace simply said “No.”
“I was in the LA riots. Save the fake fretting about ‘violence’ for the saps, the sheep, and the suckers,” Townhall columnist Kurt Schlichter tweeted.
Many other social media users expressed frustration with Cruz for his terminology.
On Jan. 6, a mob assembled in protest of Congress certifying the Electoral College results that would make Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 election rather than then-President Donald Trump. The mob advanced on the Capitol, breaking windows and doors to enter the building, engaging in fistfights with officers, and pepper-spraying police officers.
More than 700 people were arrested in connection with the riot, and more than 150 of those have pleaded guilty.
During a July hearing for the House select committee formed to investigate the riot, Metropolitan Police officer Daniel Hodges recalled being crushed in a doorway by the mob attempting to break into the Capitol.
Hodges remembers one rioter yelling, “You will die on your knees!” Another attempted to gouge his eye out with his thumb, but Hodges shook him off before any permanent damage was done.
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Former Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone, now a CNN contributor, described being in a tunnel, attempting to fend off the mob and being dragged from the line of officers.
“I heard someone scream, ‘I got one!'” Fanone said. “As I was swarmed by a violent mob, they ripped off my badge. They grabbed and stripped me of my radio. They seized ammunition that was secured to my body. They beat me with their fists and with what felt like hard metal objects.”
