He continued: “With school canceled for the week, our girls asked to take a trip with friends. 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. We want our power back, our water on, and our homes warm. My team and I will continue using all our resources to keep Texans informed and safe.”

WHAT WAS TED CRUZ THINKING?



Cruz did not mention the woman who appeared to be his wife, Heidi Cruz, in the photos.



Democrats took stabs at Cruz for jetting off on vacation. Former Texas Rep. and 2018 Democratic Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke said on MSNBC that Cruz “is vacationing in Cancun right now when people are literally freezing to death in the state that he was elected to represent and serve.”

The Texas Democratic Party addressed the Cruz controversy Thursday in a tweet: “Resign.”

Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the party, elaborated in a statement: “Ted Cruz had already proven to be an enemy to our democracy by inciting an insurrection. Now, he is proving to be an enemy to our state by abandoning us in our greatest time of need. For the 21st time, the Texas Democratic Party calls on Ted Cruz to resign or be expelled from office. Barring that, we will put all of the resources we have into defeating him and every Texas Republican who abandoned us in this disaster, including Governor Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Patrick, in 2022 and 2024. We are in a battle for the soul of our state. We must restore ethics, competence, and a government that works for the people.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki also took a jab at Cruz when asked about him in a Thursday briefing.

“I don’t have an update on his whereabouts,” she said. “Our focus is on working direct with leadership in Texas and the surrounding states on addressing the winter storm and the crisis at hand, the many people across the state [who] are without power, without the resources they need, and we expect that would be the focus of anyone in the state who was elected to represent them.”

Before Cruz confirmed that he did indeed take a plane to Cancun, online sleuths noted that the man in the photos was wearing a mask that looks the same as the one Cruz wore in the Capitol during former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial last week and during President Biden’s inauguration — gray, with the famous cannon symbol along with the words “come and take it” on the side. Others noted that the children and woman also pictured in the photos look like his children and wife.

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One Twitter user noted that the United terminal in the back of the photo showed that it was 4:10 p.m. and a flight from gate E11 heading to Ft. Lauderdale. That matched United Airlines flight 1675, which was scheduled to depart Houston at 5:00 p.m. but was delayed until 7:58 p.m.

“UA1020 to Cancun left IAH from the gate immediately adjacent, E10, at 4:44 PM, the same hour that Ted Cruz is seen standing near E11,” the user said.

Another user posted a photo of an upgrade list for flight 1020 that had “CRU, R.” on the upgrade standby list — a possible reference to the senator’s full name, Rafael Edward Cruz.