Ted Cruz Calls Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a ‘Liar’ After She Calls for Him to Resign Over Capitol Riots

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz is hitting back after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez put him on blast following Wednesday’s Capitol riots. In the wake of the storming of the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, Ocasio-Cortez has made repeated calls for Cruz to resign, citing his actions that she believes helped incite the chaos, though Cruz has defended his decision to object to the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory and dubbed the Democratic representative a “liar.”

After Cruz took to social media to condemn “a despicable act of terrorism and a shocking assault on our democratic system,” Ocasio-Cortez demanded Thursday Cruz “accept responsibility for how your craven, self-serving actions contributed to the deaths of four people yesterday.” Cruz had been a leading figure in efforts to block the certification of Biden’s win and, in a fundraising email sent amid the riots, said he was “leading the fight to reject electors from key states unless there is an emergency audit of the election results” and threatened to “REJECT the electors from the disputed states.” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted that both Cruz and Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri “must resign. If you do not, the Senate should move for your expulsion.”

Cruz eventually responded to her remarks, calling the congresswoman “a liar.” Quoting her tweet, he defended his actions, stating that “leading a debate in the Senate on ensuring election integrity is doing our jobs, and it’s in no way responsible for the despicable terrorists who attacked the Capitol yesterday.” He added, “I ain’t going anywhere” and said he would fight Ocasio-Cortez and her “socialist buddies” on taxes, the environment, immigration, and the Supreme Court.

Shortly after, Ocasio-Cortez responded, sharing a screengrab of the fundraising email and asking, “Isn’t this you? Your campaign sent out this fundraising message as people were sieging the Capitol. You claimed to be ‘leading the fight to reject electors.’” She noted, “clashes started around 1:20 pm” and that the email “was sent after the Capitol was breached.” The congresswoman said Cruz’s “complete refusal to acknowledge any of the above harm, wrongdoing, or even misjudgment; & your lack of any self-reflection in how these acts contributed to yesterday’s chaos is alarming” and makes him “unfit for the office you occupy,” again calling for him to “resign.”

Ocasio-Cortez is not alone in her calls for Cruz’s resignation. Lawmakers and other public officials in Texas, including Rep. Joaquin Castro, have called on Cruz to step down. A number of lawmakers have also called on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, which would declare President Trump unfit for office.