The government watchdog group known as Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is continuing to push for the removal of Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) from Congress. Cruz and Hawley helped lead the effort to block the certification in Congress of Joe Biden’s presidential election victory, and this effort provided direct inspiration to the rioters who attacked the Capitol last January. Neither Cruz nor Hawley have made any apparent show of remorse for their parts in inciting the Capitol attack; in fact, it appears that across both chambers just a single Republican member of Congress who opposed confirming Biden’s victory has now expressed contrition for their previous stance. Over the weekend, CREW shared a statement reading as follows:
‘We are not protecting our democracy if we let the Senators who enabled January 6 continue serving in the Senate as though it’s business as usual. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley need to resign or be expelled.’
We are not protecting our democracy if we let the Senators who enabled January 6 continue serving in the Senate as though it’s business as usual. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley need to resign or be expelled.
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) January 30, 2022
Instead of acknowledging the reality of what’s — and who’s — behind the attack on the Capitol, Cruz has opted in part for conspiracy theories. Recently, for instance, he promoted the flimsy notion that an Arizona Trump supporter named Ray Epps, who was caught on camera encouraging people to enter the Capitol the day before it happened, was actually working on behalf of federal authorities around the time of the riot. The idea would seemingly be that the feds were trying to make Trump supporters look bad, or something. As justification for this ludicrous conspiracy theory, those pushing the notion have pointed to the fact that Epps was originally listed among those wanted by federal authorities in connection to the riot before disappearing from that list without facing any charges — but as it turns out, he apparently didn’t enter the building and apparently didn’t commit any acts of violence, both of which are issues upon which prosecutors have focused.
Continuing to spread January 6 conspiracy theories is bad enough, but fundraising off them is even worse. We’re looking at you, Ted Cruz. https://t.co/M3OLAEWmSg
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) January 30, 2022
And what else is Cruz doing these days? On Twitter, he recently babbled that “Biden’s approach to Ukraine typifies the mix of incoherence and weakness that has come to embody the foreign policy of his entire administration, at incalculable cost to the national security of the United States and our allies.” That’s rich coming from one of the most high-profile defenders of an administration that was led by the guy who could seemingly never decide whether murderous dictators were bad or not. Did these people all forget about Trump advocating for Russian President Vladimir Putin to rejoin the G7 group of world leaders, from which he’d been expelled (when it was the G8) specifically over Russian aggression towards Ukraine?
Biden's approach to Ukraine typifies the mix of incoherence and weakness that has come to embody the foreign policy of his entire administration, at incalculable cost to the national security of the United States and our allies. https://t.co/pZ9tBBmwpT
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) January 28, 2022
