Republican Sen. Ted Cruz defended President Trump asking Ukraine to begin an investigation into a political rival, saying he has the “authority” to ferret out corruption — an assertion that got a Twitter thumbs up from the commander-in-chief.
“I believe any president, any Justice Department, has the authority to investigate corruption. In this case, there was serious evidence, on the face, of corruption,” Cruz of Texas said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “The reason Hunter Biden got that position is because his daddy was vice president of the United States.”
Later in the interview, Cruz called the impeachment inquiry — that has moved into the House Judiciary Committee, which is weighing drawing up articles of impeachment against Trump — a “kangaroo court.”
“In the House, they’re going to impeach, not because they have the evidence but because they hate the president – want to [undo] the election,” Cruz told NBC’s host Chuck Todd. “But it’s going to go to the Senate, it’s going to go nowhere, and I think the American people know this is a waste of time and this is Democrats putting on a circus.”
Shortly after the interview, Trump took to Twitter to tout Cruz’s comments.
“Any president has the authority to investigate corruption. The President himself released the transcript of the call. Now the Democrats have no evidence of a crime and no evidence of violating the law,” the president posted on his Twitter account, adding that Cruz told “Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd.”
Cruz also claimed that the media was ignoring the possibility that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential election.
“Russia clearly interfered in our election. But here’s the game the media is playing. Because Russia interfered, the media pretends nobody else did. Ukraine blatantly interfered in our election,” the senator said.
But Todd questioned Cruz about whether he was at a congressional briefing last month from US intelligence officials who said Ukraine wasn’t involved.
“I have been in multiple briefings, year after year after year about foreign interference in our election. Russia’s tried to interfere in our elections. China’s tried to interfere in our elections. North Korea’s tried to interfere in our elections. Ukraine has tried to interfere in our elections. This is not new,” he said.
Trump in a July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked him to announce an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who had been employed by a Ukrainian energy company.
Trump’s asking Ukraine to begin a probe happened as the administration suspended about $400 million in military aid Congress had approved for the country.
The aid was eventually released on Sept. 11.