Leaked text messages from Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) wife Heidi Cruz put a dent in the senator’s explanation of their controversial Cancún trip, which took place as millions of fellow Texans suffered from a historic winter storm and its fallout.
After losing power, Heidi texted friends and neighbors to ask them if they wanted to stay at a Ritz-Carlton in Cancún for the week. “Anyone can or want to leave for the week?” she asked in a group chat. “We may go to Cancún.” She added that they were planning to depart that Wednesday afternoon and would be returning to Texas over the weekend.
At least two people in the chat notified the New York Times of the texts, according to Jezebel. One reportedly sent the messages to the newspaper, while the other merely confirmed their existence.
Following outrage for “abandoning” his constituents during a time of crisis after the now-infamous airport photo surfaced, Cruz attempted to downplay the trip.
He said his daughters asked to go to Cancún after school was canceled due to the weather, and, trying to be a “good dad,” he obliged. He suggested the trip was pre-planned, not spontaneous, and that he was acting as a mere chaperone for his family and didn’t plan on staying (Cruz later admitted he planned to stay through the weekend in Cancún).
People online are now lauding the neighbors or friends who may have leaked the messages.
“I just love that Ted Cruz’s neighbors in their group chat sold him and Heidi out. Well played,” Shannon Watts, founder of Mom’s Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, tweeted.
“I love that one of Heidi Cruz’s neighbors saw that text and thought to herself ‘You know what, I’m going to take my place with the great whistleblowers in history: Deep Throat, Edward Snowden, Karen from the River Oaks Neighborhood Watch groupchat,'” another joked.
People are also joking about how all of the neighbors and friends in the chat would seemingly rather take their chances in the storm than go on vacation with the Cruzes, as no one appeared to take Heidi up on her offer.