Everything Ted Cruz Has Said About Trump Pardoning J6 Defendants Then and Now

Prominent Republicans have reacted differently to President Donald Trump's decision to pardon some 1,500 January 6 rioters, including those serving multi-year sentences after being convicted of violent offenses.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz positioned himself among those who defended the decision, telling NOTUS that the "Biden administration abused its power, targeting people for peaceful speech" and saying he is "glad that President Trump corrected that abuse of power."

Cruz has visibly shifted his public assessment of the events, going from condemnation to their defense. The lawmaker made national headlines in 2022 after publicly apologizing for calling the riots a "violent terrorist attack on the Capitol and a shocking assault on our democratic system."

Back then, he told conservative host Tucker Carlson that his phrasing was "sloppy and frankly dumb" and claimed he had misspoken. His office had released a statement adding that the "January 6 terrorist attack on the Capitol was a dark moment in our nation's history, and I fully support the ongoing law enforcement investigations into anyone involved."

"Anyone who commits a crime of violence should be prosecuted, and that anyone who violently assaults a police officer should go to jail for a very long time. That's true whether you're right wing, left wing or you got no wings whatsoever," the statement added.

The statement caused uproar from a faction of the Republican party, which included Carlson, as well as Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who called the comments "irresponsible" and disrespectful of "MAGA patriots."

"You called this a terror attack when by no definition was it a terror attack," Carlson told Cruz on his show. "That's a lie. You told that lie on purpose and I'm wondering why you did." The senator defended himself saying he had long used the term to describe anyone who attacks police.

Despite his claim that he had misspoken, a CNN analysis showed that Cruz had described the riots as terrorist attacks at least 17 times in written statements, tweets, Senate hearings and interviews.

Cruz spokesman Steve Guest said the premise of the CNN piece was "false" and that the "mistake" was "not explaining the difference between acts of violence and peaceful protest."

The stance has continued until the present day, with Cruz now seemingly defending Trump's decision to pardon some 1,500 rioters. He was not part of a GOP-wide position, considering at least four Republican senators criticized the pardons. Mitch McConnell, Bill Cassidy, Thom Tillis, and Lisa Murkowski expressed their disappointment, with the latter saying she "feared the massage that is sent to these great men and women that stood by us."