Senator Ted Cruz has revealed he was in a “a supply closet with stacked chairs” during part of the January 6 storming of Congress.
On that day in 2021 hundreds of Donald Trump supporters broke into the Capitol Building in a bid to stop Joe Biden‘s victory in the 2020 presidential election from being certified.
One Trump supporter was shot dead by police and dozens of officers injured in the violence, whilst members of Congress were rushed to an undisclosed secure location on site.
Cruz, who opposed the certification of election results from Arizona, describes the day’s events in his new book Justice Corrupted: How the Left Weaponized Our Legal System.
He said: “Toward the end of our two-hour session, as Senator James Lankford from Oklahoma was speaking, there was a commotion from outside the [Senate] chamber.
“Suddenly, Capitol Police officers rushed in and hastily escorted the vice president off the dais. Shortly thereafter, we paused the proceedings. In the fog of the confusion, it was difficult to tell what exactly was happening. We were informed that a riot had broken out and that rioters were attempting to violently breach the Capitol building.
“At first, Capitol Police instructed us to remain on the Senate floor. And so we did. Then, a few minutes later, they instructed us to evacuate rapidly.”
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Cruz said Senators were led to a “secure location” where “tempers were high” with several Senators “blaming us explicitly for the violence that was occurring.”
In his book Cruz continued: “While we waited for the Capitol to be secured, I assembled our coalition in a back room (really, a supply closet with stacked chairs) to discuss what we should do next.
“Several members of the group argued that in the face of the riot, we should suspend our objections and vote to certify the election. I understood the sentiment. But I vehemently disagreed with it. I urged my colleagues that the course of action we were advocating was the right and principled one.”
After the riot Cruz was one of just six Republican Senators who voted against certifying the presidential election result from Arizona. He also opposed certifying the Pennsylvania result, along with six GOP colleagues.
Trump is continuing to insist the 2020 presidential election was rigged, despite the claims being repeatedly rejected by courts and independent polling experts.
More than 850 people have been charged in relation to the January 6 attack on Congress.
The day’s events are being investigated by a House select committee, which on Friday subpoenaed Trump to appear before it.
A letter from the committee to the former president said: “You were at the center of the first and only effort by any US President to overturn an election. You knew this activity was illegal and unconstitutional.”
