Senator Ted Cruz joked about his trip to Cancun in the midst of a crisis storm in Texas last week, which caused chilling temperatures, widespread power outages and broken pipes that flooded homes.
Speaking on Friday morning at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, Cruz (R-Texas) made his statements as he began his speech.
“God bless CPAC,” the Texas senator began, “I have to say Orlando is awesome. It’s not as nice as Cancun, but it’s nice.”
The comment was received with laughter and snorts from the people.
The event, which moved from Washington, DC to Orlando, Florida, due to coronavirus restrictions, kicked off Friday morning with statements from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Cruz has been controlling the damage after the scandal, which erupted after he was caught flying into the Mexican tourist city with his wife and daughters, ages 10 and 12, days after Texas was paralyzed by a unique winter storm.
He was forced to interrupt the trip, return home the next day and issue a mea culpa.
Cruz underwent an intense examination on the optics of the mini-vacation and, having left the family kitten, the snowflake, at home alone without power or heat.
“Apparently, I gave snowflakes to the wolves,” Cruz said, eliminating the reaction. “I was at home with a babysitter. The heat came on again. It’s all a bit absurd. “
He also said his wife, Heidi, was “angry” that texts showing his invitation to friends in the neighborhood during the family’s trip had been leaked to the media.
During his fiery CPAC speech, Cruz also addressed former House Speaker John Boehner, who made headlines Thursday after an Axios report revealed he offered the Texas senator a message full of explanation in his new book.
“Oh, and Ted Cruz, go yourself,” Boehner reports as a side note to the recording of the audiobook for his next volume.
The message is not written in the text of the book, entitled “On The House: A Washington Memoir.”
Boehner appeared to address the report in a tweet on Thursday, where he wrote, “I poured myself a glass of something nice to read my audiobook. You can blame the wine on the explosives.”
The tweet showed a photo of the former speaker of the house sitting next to a microphone with a glass of wine in his hand.
Cruz did not initially comment on Boehner’s disclosure, until he reached the CPAC stage.
“You know, John Boehner broke the news yesterday. He suggested I do something that is anatomically impossible. To which I replied: Who is John Boehner? “