Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX): Biden Administration’s ‘Lawlessness’ Is ‘Directly Responsible’ For Death Of Texas National Guardsmen

Listen To The Full Interview Below:

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) joined the Guy Benson Show to react to the breaking news that the body of a missing Texas National Guard soldier has been recovered after trying to save illegal migrants from drowning.

Cruz reacted to the death of a missing Texas National Guard soldier by saying,

“Well, tragically, this is yet another death that for which the Biden administration is directly responsible, we have the 13 servicemen and women who were murdered in Afghanistan as a result of their disastrously failed withdrawal and surrender to the Taliban. And now yet another serviceman, the National Guardsman, who was answering the call, was stepping forward to defend his nation, and he died selflessly saving the lives of others. And this shouldn’t have had to happen.”

Cruz added,

“Were it not for the lawlessness of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the refusal to enforce the law? The odds are very good. This National Guardsmen who would still be with us and still living because they would not have been needing to combat the chaos at the border caused by Biden and Harris.”

FULL TRANSCIPT BELOW:
GUY BENSON, THE GUY BENSON SHOW HOST: Joining us now is U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican of Texas, and Senator, it’s great to be in your state and great to have you back on the show. Welcome.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: Guy, great to be with you. Thanks for having me.

BENSON: I want to start on a sad note but one that I think merits some conversation. The U.S. Senate lost a giant over the weekend, longtime Utah Senator, Orrin Hatch, passing away. He was 88. He served in the Upper Chamber for decades, 1977 to 2018. I know you overlapped with him. What a sense of humor. The man was a statesman. I just wonder what your thoughts are on the legacy of Senator Orrin Hatch?

CRUZ: Well Orrin was a friend. He was a colleague. He was someone who served four decades in the United States Senate and left an extraordinary legacy. As you noted when I arrived to serve with him he was already in his sunset years but had been here a very long time. He came in as a young turk (ph). He would regularly sit me down and sit other senators down and tell war stories of, you know, when I came here I was a ravel rouser just like you, and he used to tell a number of us, you know, son, some day you’re going to amount to something.

(LAUGHTER)

Which it kind of chuffed him a little bit at the sentiment of. I’ll tell you my favorite Orrin Hatch story was his colleague from Utah, my dear friend, Mike Lee, was standing with him on the Senate floor and actually Mike had been a Senate page while Orrin was a senator. That’s how long he had served.

BENSON: Wow.

CRUZ: And someone came up to the two of them and another said, hey, is it true that I heard that Utah had legalized medical marijuana? And Hatch bowed his head and shook it in sadness, and he said, “Yes. First coffee, now this.”

(LAUGHTER)

BENSON: Perfect. Well he will be missed, and I got to know him just a little bit when I was coming up in this industry. He was extremely kind to me, and I just wanted to get your thoughts, Senator Cruz, before we moved onto another very sad subject. News breaking here in Texas today involving the drowning death of Specialist Bishop Evans. His body was found earlier. That was confirmed. Governor Abbott put out a statement, and this is now an American who has been lost in this border crisis, someone who dove into the water to help people who were drowning. He saved them. They survived. It turns out according to the authorities here they are likely drug smugglers, and, I mean, at what point does the federal government and the Biden administration deserve frankly some blame when this crisis turns legal?

CRUZ: Well tragically this is yet another death that for which Biden administration is directly responsible. We have the 13 servicemen and women who were murdered in Afghanistan as a result of their disastrously-failed withdraw and surrender to the Taliban, and now yet another serviceman, this National Guardsman who was answering the call, who was stepping forward to defend his nation, and he died selflessly saving the lives of others. And this shouldn’t have had to happen. We’re seeing an extraordinary influx of illegal immigration. Over two million people last year, the highest rate in 61 years, and that’s the direct result of political decisions made by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. And it has resulted tragically in an enormous loss of life. Not only this guardsman who heroically lost his life but also the many victims of crime as violent criminals and gang members have been among those illegal aliens coming in. Spread of infectious diseases, including COVID-19. This has been an ongoing humanitarian disaster and were it not for the lawlessness of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the refusal to enforce the law, the odds are very good this National Guardsman who would still be with us and still living because he would not have been needing to combat the chaos of the border caused by Biden and Harris.

BENSON: I am just shocked being down here. Not by the revelation of how bad it is because I’ve been following this issue very closely for a long time. But just sort of seeing the day in and day out churn of this crisis with the Feds overwhelmed, their hands tied behind their back by the administration, the Texas government doing everything in its power to try to deal with this in same sort of way that’s responsible and getting attacked for it, constantly by the way. Either attacked aggressively or just ignored totally by the national press and this all comes against the backdrop, Senator of Title 42 scheduled to go away in just about one month. We were chatting with one of the commanders here today down — right up the river and he said already word is spreading that Title 42 is going to be Jettisoned (ph) and that is, in his mind, increasing illegal crossings already. With weeks to spare, how can the administration move forward on this policy that is so obviously disastrous on every level, you know, policy wise and politically that even their own colleagues in their party have started begging them to reconsider. I mean do you think just for the political reasons they might reconsider this?

CRUZ: Well, Guy, unfortunately the answer to how they can go forward is they just don’t give a damn. It is all politics all the time with this administration. I’m — I’m glad you’re down there seeing it firsthand. I think it is incredibly important for particularly everyone in media to see firsthand what is happening because you cannot defend this chaos of suffering, the disaster that is unfolding. If you see it last year — I brought 19 senators down to the border, down to the Rio Grande Valley to see it first hand and — and I got to tell you, my colleagues were shocked, they were astonished. We went out on the river and — and even that one time — day we were out on the river we saw a dead body floating of someone who had been presumably trying to cross illegally who had drowned, who had lost his life. We saw a constant stream of men, women, children, little children, infants coming across just one after the other, after the other, a constant flow of humanity. We saw the Biden cages packed with children lying side by side, packed in like sardines, as close as humanly possible. And the reason I say the Democrats don’t give a damn is for four years they went on and on and on about kids in cages. You couldn’t turn on the TV without hearing that refrain. What they acknowledge is that Barack Obama built the cages and the cages today are bigger and more full under Joe Biden. And suddenly the Democrats don’t care. Joe Biden hasn’t been to the border, Kamala Harris hasn’t been to the Rio Grande Valley, the national media ignores that kids on (ph) cages — AOC in her white pantsuit famously weeping about the kids in cages. If it’s Joe Biden locking them up, nothing to see here, not a problem. And I got to tell you, the people in South Texas, one of the reasons why South Texas, I believe, is going to turn red in this election because nobody, regardless of your party, if you see this you can’t defend it. And Guy, I’m — you know I have done a number of round tables with people in South Texas, I’ve talked with farmers and ranchers moms angry who say listen, I won’t let my teenage children go out on property without carrying a loaded firearm because there are so many traffickers coming across our property. And they yell at you, they say what the hell is going on, this is America. My kids ought to be able to be safe on our property. This is the result of cynical politics from Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and there isn’t a single Democrat in the Senate that gives a damn enough to stop it.

BENSON: And speaking of cynicism on this subject, I do see the headlines and the banner graphics on TV, Democratic senators urge Biden to reconsider on Title 42. And that’s fine, I hope he does reconsider because you get a crisis that would become a full blown just explosion down here if they move forward with their plan. But the cynic in me believes, Senator, that a lot of your colleagues on the other side of the aisle are suddenly concerned about an issue because they are seeing how it’s playing politically. They’re anticipating what’s going to happen in the spring and summer. They’re up for reelection in many cases in November. And a topic on which they either have nothing to say or they vote against everything that they possibly can when it comes to border security or the wall, whatever it is, you name it; now right sort of with a — with an election looming, these folks decide oh gosh, maybe — maybe Title 42 needs to stay as a policy matter but certainly as a political proposition. And you know, Senator, I’m so old that I remember I think it was in fact you yourself who had an amendment on this Title 42 last year, and if I’m wrong please correct me. I believe every single Democrat in the Senate voted against your amendment that would have enshrined Title 42. It seems like maybe they finally come around. They’re finally seeing if your way, just in the nick of time for an election. Am I being too cynical here?

CRUZ: Well I — you’re not and what you’re saying is exactly right. We — you’ve got a bunch of Democrats on the ballot of November who are suddenly scared. They discovered that people don’t like chaos, they don’t like crime, they don’t like disease, they don’t like human suffering and children being physically assaulted, sexually assaulted. Title 42 is the one tool remaining that allows adult mails to be removed when they pose a risk of spreading the pandemic and yet the Biden administration while trying to enforce illegal vaccine mandates on American citizens while trying to impose mask mandates on just about everybody, simultaneously it’s saying if you’re an illegal alien, never mind, we’ll just let you go and see what happens. I — and — and suddenly a bunch of Democrats on the ballot of November realize wow, the American people don’t like this but — but you’re exactly right. When they had a chance to vote on it last year, I introduced an amendment to enshrine, to protect Title 42, to insure that we were protecting public safety and every single Democrat in the Senate voted no.

(CROSSTALK)

CRUZ: — Masto in Nevada voted no. That means Mark Kelly in Arizona voted no, that means Raphael Warnock in Georgia voted no. That means Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire voted no. Now they’re trying to run away from that vote but notably they’re just giving lame statements to the press, they don’t want to actually change the policy because Chuck Schumer blocks a vote two weeks ago for us to change the policy. So they want to give an empty statement to the press but at the same time give Joe Biden the green light to undermine our safety even more.

BENSON: Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, my guest. Senator, last topic here. I just have a hunch that you might have a few thoughts on this. I won’t believe any of it until every single thing is written out. Every eye is dotted, every T is crossed and you know the signatures are all in place and it’s official but all of this fuss, all of the reports about Elon Musk perhaps being on the brink of official taking over buying Twitter and making it private, I’m curious how you feel about that and how you’re feeling — how you’re thinking about the meltdown currently underway about this prospect.

CRUZ: Guy, I think it tremendous. I — I think it is the most significant development for free speech in decades. And — and I salute Elon Musk for — for having the courage to step in and say enough is enough and put together over $40 billion in funding. And if this goes through it is remarkably important and to see the left, to see the corporate media, to see Democrats screaming that suddenly their opponents will no longer be silenced. Now, to be clear Elon is not saying he’s going to silence the left. He’s not going to silence the Democrats. He’s not going to silence the socialists or the marxists. He’s just going to let people speak and engage in free speech, and the left is terrified of dissent. They’re terrified of facts. They’re terrified of engaging in substance. As you know, I do every week a podcast that is called “Verdict with Ted Cruz”. It was – the year we introduced it, it became the number one podcast in the world. We did it on campus last week at the University of Alabama. We did it on campus the week before at Yale University. Both universities had over 500 students come out because they want to engage. They want to actually hear facts. They want to hear substance. They want to engage in debate. That’s what Twitter should be as well, and Elon Musk is performing a public service of extraordinary magnitude.

BENSON: Yes, and the reporting just this afternoon and evening is that Twitter has agreed to the terms and the deal is happening. I mean, it feels kind of surreal. Again, I will believe it when it is officially all the way through, but that’s the way this all seems to be heading, Senator. And I think one last piece of it for me is if there are going to be rules – and there have to be rules of the road. It’s not going to be just, you know, anyone can post absolutely anything that they want on Twitter – but if there are going to be rules, the rules have to be clear and enforced fairly and equally, which seems to be one of the biggest gripes that conservatives have with the current regime at Twitter. And Musk has at least suggested that would be one of the things that he would believe in if he becomes the overlord of all of Twitter. And I guess we’ll just have to see, but it has been fascinating this entire drama as it’s unfolded and seems to be coming to a head and it looks like it’s not just, you know, some idle threat. It seems like it might really truly be happening.

Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, I’m here in Texas. I’m very proud to be here in Texas in Del Rio at the moment, going to McAllen tomorrow. Senator, we always appreciate your time. Thanks for carving some out for us here on the program today.

CRUZ: Terrific. Thank you.

BENSON: That’s Ted Cruz on “The Guy Benson Show”. Well be right back.