Ted Cruz Admits He Was Going to Stay in Cancun Until Sunday, Despite Previous Statement

Ted Cruz is really living up to that “Lyin’ Ted” nickname that Donald Trump gave him during the 2016 presidential campaign.

The Texas senator now admits that he was planning on staying in Cancun, Mexico until Sunday, just hours after he flew back home to Texas amid backlash for his vacation.

Cruz was spotted taking a trip to Mexico with his family on Wednesday (February 18) while thousands of people in his state are still suffering through a winter storm. Millions of people had power outages throughout this week and there are still many whose power hasn’t been restored. The senator was criticized for going on vacation instead of taking care of the people he represents.

After the backlash, Cruz released a statement saying that he traveled to Mexico to accompany his daughters on a trip with their friends and that he was flying right back to Texas.

Cruz‘s original travel plans were later revealed and his wife’s text messages to neighbors were also leaked online.

Now, Cruz is finally telling the truth.

Click inside to read his statement…

“Whether the decision to go was tone-deaf — look, it was obviously a mistake. In hindsight, I wouldn’t've done it,” Ted said told reporters while arriving at his house. “I was trying to be a dad. When you’ve got two girls who have been cold for two days and haven’t had heat or power and saying, ‘Hey look, we don’t have school. Why don’t we go? Let’s get out of here.’”

The New York Times also reports that Cruz said, “The plan had been to stay through the weekend with the family.”

CNN adds that he said, “I started having second thoughts almost the moment I sat down on the plane, because on the one hand, all of us who are parents have a responsibility to take care of our kids, take care of our family. That’s something Texans have been doing across the state… But I also have a responsibility that I take very seriously for the state of Texas and frankly, leaving when so many Texans were hurting didn’t feel right and so I changed my return flight and flew back on the first available flight I could take.”

“Of course, I understand why people are upset. Listen, we’re in a strange time where Twitter’s been going crazy and the media is going crazy and there’s a lot of venom and vitriol that I think is unfortunate frankly on both sides,” he added. “I think everyone ought to treat each other with respect and decency and try to understand each other more particularly at a time of crisis.”