Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) defended his decision to object to the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory during a joint session of Congress after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called on him to resign after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol.
“Sen. Cruz, you must accept responsibility for how your craven, self-serving actions contributed to the deaths of four people yesterday. And how you fundraised off this riot,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted at the lawmaker on Thursday.
“Both you and Senator Hawley must resign. If you do not, the Senate should move for your expulsion,” she added, referring to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who also objected to the certification effort.
Cruz responded by calling the congresswoman “a liar.”
“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,” Cruz said. “And sorry, I ain’t going anywhere. When you and your socialist buddies… try to massively raise taxes, when you try to pass the green new deal & destroy millions of jobs, when you push for amnesty, when you try to pack the Supreme Court w/ activists to undermine our Constitutional rights.”
Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill have claimed that widespread voter fraud led to an unfair election in November. Those claims have been rejected by several courts in key battleground states where the Trump campaign filed lawsuits contesting the results.
Soon after debate began on Biden’s victory on Wednesday, pro-Trump rioters breached the Capitol, forcing lawmakers to go into hiding and stopping the proceedings.
Cruz condemned the violent outburst by Trump supporters, calling it “a despicable act of terrorism.”
Ocasio-Cortez and dozens of other lawmakers have called for invoking the 25th Amendment against Trump, saying he is a danger to the country.
“Our republic is in great danger, and it is imperiled further without swift action to protect it,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in separate tweets. “The President incited an attack on Congress. He is deeply unstable. The Cabinet must invoke the 25th amendment. Congress must also pursue impeachment and removal of the President.”