Sen. Cruz: We Have Heard Plenty of Evidence and It Is Clear the House Democrats Have Not Proven Their Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. - On Friday, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) spoke with Fox News' Mike Emmanuel and appeared on The Ben Shapiro Show and Joe Pags Show, ahead of the President's defense team's opening arguments.
On Fox News, Sen. Cruz shared his advice for the White House's defense team, saying:
"Focus on making the case on the merits and laying out the factual reasons for the President's innocence. The President is innocent of these charges. The Senate is going to acquit him. It's going to find him not guilty and the reason for that: the House Managers haven't met the constitutional standard."
WATCH: CRUZ ON FOX NEWS: Democrats Have Not Met Constitutional Standard of Impeachment
On the Ben Shapiro Show, when asked whether additional witnesses will be called, Sen. Cruz discussed his call for witness reciprocity:
"I think it is a close call in terms of what the Senate is going to do. Next week, we're going to vote, and it's going to be a vote on whether witnesses are necessary. I think we have heard plenty of evidence and it is clear the House Democrats have not proven their case. I think we have more than enough to proceed to final judgment and acquit the President. But I don't know if, if there will be 51 votes for that. If 51 Senators say, we've heard enough, let's go to judgment and the trial ends next week and the President is acquitted.
"On the other hand, if 51 Senators vote and say, we need to hear additional witnesses, we need to hear additional evidence [...] I have urged the Republican conference [...] to not follow the pattern of the House. We need to not have a partisan show-trial, where only one side's witnesses are our presented.
"Instead, we need to respect due process. We need to respect and follow the principle of reciprocity. That means if the prosecution gets a witness, the defense gets a witness. That means if the prosecution gets to call John Bolton, then the President should get to call Hunter Biden and whatever other witnesses they want to call. And I got to say, I do have a high level of confidence that if 51 Senators choose to go down the road of calling more witnesses, that we will see the President able to call a Hunter Biden and other important witnesses to demonstrate the innocence of the President of these abusive charges that the Congressional Democrats have brought against him."
LISTEN: CRUZ ON BEN SHAPIRO SHOW
On the Joe Pags Show, Sen. Cruz reminded the American people what this impeachment is really all about - undermining two presidential elections at once:
"They number one want to overturn the 2016 election and remove the President from office because they're mad that the American people voted for Trump over Hillary.
"But number two, this is about the 2020 election. They want to take Donald Trump off the ballot. They want to prevent the American people from voting for him because they're afraid that if given the choice that the American people are going to vote for free enterprise over socialism. That we're going to vote for jobs over poverty, that we're going to vote for securing the border versus open borders.
"This is politics. This is warfare by another means, which is abusing the Constitution. That's what the congressional Democrats are doing. They're abusing the Constitution to carry out their political and partisan hatred."
LISTEN: CRUZ ON JOE PAGS SHOW
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