Trump touts Cruz, Hawley as the future of the GOP in new interview

Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) led the charge in the Senate to challenge the Electoral College results on Jan. 6. The plan was largely upended when a mob of former President Donald Trump's supporters breached the Capitol and delayed the vote. Hawley and Cruz still went through with their objections, but the push lost momentum and many of their colleagues bailed. Since then, the two senators have faced harsh criticism across the political spectrum, but Trump himself still appears to have their backs.

In an interview with Fox News' Lisa Boothe, who launched her podcast Monday, Trump pointed to Hawley and Cruz as two people who could lead the Republican Party going forward, though he didn't mention their roles in the Capitol riot. Hawley, Trump said, "has shown some real courage in going after big tech." As for Cruz, Trump said they "had it out for a while," because Cruz "got very, very ... rather violent and vicious" during the 2016 GOP primaries, but "it simmered down and he's been great."

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.