The Republican senator, who claimed that he flew to Mexico only to accompany his daughters, has been spotted in an airport in Cancun to take a flight back to the U.S. hours after offering his apology.
- Feb 19, 2021
AceShowbiz - Ted Cruz's initial travel plans have been revealed in the wake of backlash over his trip to Cancun. The Texas senator came under fire for fleeing the state in the middle of power crisis, but he claimed that he was only going to Mexico to accompany his daughters on a trip with their friends and that he was planning to return the next day.
Despite his claim, however, it appears that Cruz originally planned to stay for a few days in Cancun, before going back to Texas. According to a new report, the 50-year-old Republican initially booked his return flight for Saturday, February 20, instead of for Thursday as he said.
Cruz eventually took a flight back from Cancun on Thursday afternoon, hours after offering his apology for his trip. The report also says that he booked his return ticket to the U.S. on Thursday morning at 6 A.M., just hours before the flight.
Cruz previously attributed his trip to Mexico to being "a good dad" to his two daughters as he explained in a statement, "With school cancelled 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," the Republican politician claimed. "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."
In a press conference, Cruz once again used his children as an excuse for the trip as he stated, "I started having second thoughts almost the moment I sat down on the plane, because on the one hand, all of us who are parents have a responsibility to take care of our kids, take care of our family. That's something Texans have been doing across the state."
"But I also have a responsibility that I take very seriously for the state of Texas and frankly, leaving when so many Texans were hurting didn't feel right and so I changed my return flight and flew back on the first available flight I could take," he continued.
Promising that he would return to Texas later in the afternoon, Cruz stated he had to wait for his COVID-19 test to come back negative, "I couldn't take a morning flight because the current restrictions require a Covid test, so I had to get a Covid test this morning, before I could get on a flight back, so I took the first flight I could get after getting the Covid test and testing negative."
Cruz later became the butt of the joke after NASA's Perseverance rover landed on Mars later on Thursday. "Spotted: Ted Cruz deviates from his plans in Cancun to hitch a ride with Perseverance to Mars," one quipped.
"Mars rover has found no sign of intelligent life, but the rover did find U.S. Senator Ted Cruz," another tweeted. Someone else joked about sending Cruz to Mars, "I can't believe we launched something to Mars and didn't put Ted Cruz on it."
