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‘Fireworks at an epic level’

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) says nearly half of the Senate Republican Conference criticized Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche during a bombastic meeting at the Capitol on Thursday, summarizing his Republican colleagues’ outrage over the proposed $1.8 billion “war on guns” fund as “fireworks of epic proportions.”

Cruz said he was surprised by the outpouring of anger and frustration toward Blanche in the Capitol’s wood-paneled Mansfield Room when Blanche arrived to defend the administration’s proposal to compensate people who believe they were unfairly investigated or prosecuted by the Biden-era Justice Department.

“There were epic fireworks, and I have to say this was one of the toughest meetings I’ve seen in my time in the Senate. There were a lot of Republican senators who were angry,” Cruz said on his podcast “Deciding with Ted Cruz.”

The Texas senator said there are a few GOP senators who are “really, really unhappy” like Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who lost his bid to win a third Senate term after President Trump endorsed his primary rival, Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.). Cassidy finished third in the Louisiana Senate GOP primary, missing the runoff.

Cruz is also Sen. Trump, who has clashed with Trump on various issues in this Congress and will retire at the end of the term. Sen., who is currently the underdog in the Texas Senate Republican primary runoffs scheduled for Tuesday after endorsing Thom Tillis (R.N.C.) and Trump’s opponent, State Attorney General Ken Paxton. He also named John Cornyn (R-Texas).

Cruz described Tillis as “pretty spoiled” and Cornyn as “not exactly thrilled” with the president.

And Cruz pointed to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), whose home state ally Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) was defeated in the primary last week after Trump endorsed rival former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein as another Republican who vented his frustrations to Blanche at Thursday’s meeting.

Cruz noted that “Trump showed a strong bias towards Massie” and that his career ended in the House of Representatives.

“Let me tell you in the Senate, Rand Paul, who is very, very close to Massie and campaigned with Massie, is very angry,” he said.

Trump’s alienation of four GOP senators — not to mention moderate Republican Senators Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) — could make it harder to pass the president’s agenda in the Senate for the rest of this year, Cruz said.

“We’re in a 53-47 majority, if you lose four senators you’re under 50 and you can’t do anything,” he warned. “This will be a complicating factor for the rest of the year.

“These four senators, I can’t imagine things are suddenly going to be good and they’re happy. Like this dynamic in 2026, we’re going to face interesting challenges throughout the rest of the year.”

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