Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) didn’t come to Washington to make friends, but at this point he’s going out of his way to create enemies within his party.
In his new book A Time for Truth, released on Tuesday, Cruz came out slamming his fellow Republicans. He sounds off sharp criticisms of Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and political consultant Karl Rove.
Cruz accused McConnell of being a coward for not joining him in fighting against Obamacare, gun control, and the debt ceiling, Politico reported.
He said that McConnell and other members of GOP leadership attempted to sabotage his fundraising, planted hit pieces against him in the press, and worked with Democrats to avoid bad headlines.
The relationship between Cruz and McConnell wasn’t always so bad.
In his book, he says that the then-minority leader welcomed him with open arms. The two went on a trip to Afghanistan together, and McConnell appointed Cruz on the Senate Rules Committee–a rare feat for a freshman.
That all changed when Cruz became vice chair of the NRSC but refused to fundraise for establishment Republicans he perceived as being too liberal.
According to Politico, despite Cruz’s disagreements with some of the candidates the NRSC was supporting, he transferred $250,000 to help with the general election.
Paul was also a target in Cruz’s book, whom he accused of acting one way when the spotlight was on him and another behind the scenes.
“During my time in the Senate, I’ve been amazed how many senators pose one way in public — as fiscal conservatives or staunch tea party supporters — and then in private do little or nothing to advance those principles,” Cruz wrote in the book.
He said that during his 21-hour filibuster over Obamacare in September 2013, Paul tried to undermine his efforts.
“Another tea party senator was notably less helpful. My friend Rand Paul came to the Senate floor to ask questions that seemed deliberately designed to undermine our efforts,” he continued. “His questions echoed the skeptical attacks of Mitch McConnell, and I marveled that Rand had decided not to be with us in this fight.”
Cruz also detailed a fight that broke out between Karl Rove and the senator. According to a section of his book made available from Breitbart, Cruz wanted to make an endorsement and donation by Former President George H.W. Bush public while he was mulling a run for Texas Attorney General, but Rove dismissed that idea.
Rove threatened Cruz that if he made the donation public, George W. Bush would endorse his opponent and come out publicly against him.
