Sen. Cruz Calls Violent Antifa Riots a ‘Terrorist Assault’ on Our Country That Must Be Stopped
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today appeared on Fox News' ‘Outnumbered Overtime w/ Harris Faulkner,' to condemn the violent riots that have broken out amid peaceful protests following the horrific death of George Floyd. Sen. Cruz also spoke with reporters, calling for strong leadership to protect all Americans and fairly and equally enforce the law for everyone.
"Everyone agrees what happened to George Floyd was horrific. It was police brutality. And we are united in rightly believing that the officers involved should face criminal prosecution. They are facing criminal prosecution for breaking the law."
"I think there are a lot of people who are second guessing the President, and second guessing our leadership. Now is a time for strong leadership. Rioting should not be tolerated. It cannot be allowed. And we need strong leadership from the President, from the Attorney General, from governors, from mayors, [and] from police chiefs.
"Every American has a right to speak and to peaceably express your freedom of speech. What you don't have a right to do is engage in violent rioting. What you don't have a right to do is loot. What you don't have a right to do is light police cars on fire and attack your fellow citizens. We need law enforcement to be unequivocal that if you do that, you will be arrested, you will be prosecuted and you will spend a very long time in jail. We also need systematic law enforcement targeting Antifa and other terrorist groups that are organizing, [and] that are providing assistance. This is a terrorist assault on our country and rioting cannot be tolerated. It needs to end and it needs to end now."
ON PRESIDENT TRUMP'S RESPONSE & VISIT TO ST. JOHN'S CHURCH
"The military has been called up a number of times to defend the nation. The natural route is to use the National Guard. That is appropriate. If necessary, the military should be used and there is a long tradition of that."
"I'm glad the President went to St. John's church. That's a historic church in our nation's capital city that arsonists and vandals have firebombed. It was strong and powerful for the President to go there and say we will not be cowed."
ON DEMOCRATS' AUTHORITARIAN DOUBLE STANDARD
"Isn't it interesting, Harris, that all of these authoritarian Democratic local leaders who were eager to send in law enforcement to arrest people at churches or to try to target a dad playing softball with his six-year-old daughter [...] when it comes to violent protesters, looting, robbing, breaking windows, stealing, burning police cars, suddenly these Democratic elected office holders, too many of them are deciding it's bad politics to enforce the law. Every one of them needs to protect our American cities, our American people."
WATCH: Cruz on Fox News: "Rioting Cannot Be Tolerated. It Needs to End and It Needs to End Now."
WATCH: Cruz Calls Terrorism Erupting Across Country Unacceptable
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