Ted Cruz Refuses to Say Whether He Agrees with Trump Praising Putin, Touts His Podcast Instead
On Thursday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was asked whether he agrees with Donald Trump’s recent comments that Vladimir Putin has been “pretty smart” and “savvy” as the Russian leader laid siege to Ukraine.
The senator’s response was, shall we say, wanting.
CBS correspondent Robert Costa tweeted a transcript of an exchange he had with Cruz, in which the reporter cited Trump’s remarks lauding the Putin. During a radio interview on Monday, Trump called Putin’s maneuvers “genius” and “savvy.” The next day at Mar-a-Lago, Trump told a large gathering, “I mean, he’s taking over a country for two dollars-worth of sanctions. I’d say that’s pretty smart.”
Costa asked Cruz a simple and straightforward question:
In recent days former President Trump has said Putin is “pretty smart.” He said he’s been “savvy” when it comes to this whole episode and crisis. Do you agree with the former president’s assessment of Putin?
Instead of answering the question, Cruz dinged President Joe Biden and promoted his podcast:
Well, unfortunately, Putin is playing Joe Biden on the world stage, and it is a bad outcome for everyone. You know, I do every week a podcast it’s called verdict with Ted Cruz, the latest podcast is an in-depth analysis of what’s happening in Ukraine, why that happened. What’s happening in Russia. One of the things I go into the speech that Putin gave just a few days ago. It was an hour-long speech and it’s chilling, chilling to read. Because Putin is a KGB thug, he is a mega maniacal maniac…
Costa tried again, asking Cruz, “But is President Trump’s choice of words on Putin problematic or not?”
Cruz responded by accusing Costa of trying to incite Republican infighting.
“Listen, there’s lots of things present in terms of foreign policy,” Cruz said. “Look, I get the press always wants to get Republicans fighting amongst each other.”
Costa replied, “I’m just curious about your take on that.”
Finally, the senator retreated into the last refuge for Republicans who know better, but who nonetheless will absolutely not disagree with Trump in public: I wouldn’t have said it.
“There are lots of things President Trump says that I wouldn’t say and his rhetoric, I with some regularity disagree with,” Cruz declared. “But if you actually look at policies, who actually stood up to Russia, it’s not even close. Donald Trump signed into law the sanctions that I wrote to stop Nord Stream II…”
