When the Senate broke for an early dinner, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) made the rounds, talking to various reporters and journalists. He made the point that the Senate heard "just the beginning" of the corrupt relationship between Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma and Hunter Biden.
"Joe Biden, as vice president of the United States – and we just saw video, I'd encourage every news outlet here to show it – of Joe Biden bragging how he told the president of Ukraine that he was gonna cut off a billion dollars, gonna cut off a billion dollars in foreign aid to Ukraine unless they fired the prosecutor," Cruz told reporters around him. "And in Joe Biden's own words, 'Son of a b**ch, they fired the guy.'"
Another reporter injected, wanting to know what Cruz thought about the latest news in John Bolton's book. According to the Texas Senator, what Bolton's "bombshell" report says doesn't change the merits of the impeachment case.
"The legal issue before this Senate is whether a president has the authority to investigate corruption," he explained. "The House Managers built their entire case on the proposition that investigating Burisma corruption, that investigating the Bidens for corruption was baseless and a sham. ... That proposition is absurd."
Cruz cited Trump's defense attorney Pam Bondi's presentation about Hunter Biden and Burisma as evidence that proves the Democrats' assertion to be false.
"At a minimum, we've seen two hours of evidence that, at a minimum, it was not only reasonable and justified, but the president, I think, had an obligation to investigate corruption that extended to the highest levels of government," he said.
A reporter said Trump's defense team failed to show any potential crimes Joe or Hunter Biden committed.
"Basically, what they said is Hunter Biden got a job, his dad is vice president. If that's a crime, shouldn't half of your children be in prison?" the reporter asked.
Cruz clapped back at the reporter.
"My children are nine and 11 and I'm sorry you want to throw a nine-year-old in prison, but at this point, my third grader plays basketball and softball at her school," he said, with other legislators behind him laughing. "So stop playing the nasty Washington game–"
"That's not a nasty Washington game," the reporter replied.
"Attacking a nine-year-old?" Cruz asked, clearly flabbergasted.
The reporter said something inaudible, but Cruz shut him down. Another journalist jumped in to ask a question and the conversation moved on.
The fact that this reporter attempted to spear Cruz's kids, without knowing a single tidbit about them – most importantly their ages – shows how swampy the press can truly be. And it's why the American people trust very few that preside in the Beltway.
Leave it to swampy journos to attack elementary school children. pic.twitter.com/gEIXdXftg6
— Beth Baumann (@eb454) January 28, 2020