Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is getting a lot of criticism (and some ridiculous defenses) over his choice to fly to Cancun as his constituents faced massive power cuts and water outages amid historically frigid temperatures sweeping the state.
After being caught on camera at the airport on Wednesday, Cruz issued a statement on Thursday that didn’t exactly improve things. The senator acknowledged the crises that Texans are up against, before explaining that he had to go to Cancun because his daughters wanted to.
“With school cancelled for the week, our girls asked to take a trip with friends,” the statement read. “Wanting to be a good dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying back this afternoon. My staff and I are in constant communication with state and local leaders to get to the bottom of what happened in Texas.”
Cruz was indeed seen Thursday flying back to Texas. However, NBC News reported that he was initially booked to return on Saturday, but changed his flight on Thursday morning.
Many people on Twitter did not exactly find the circumstances exonerating: