• Cruz has long insisted that he isn't watching January 6 committee hearings.
  • But Cruz, an avid Twitter user, did watch the video of Josh Hawley fleeing the Capitol after it went viral.
  • He called it "gotcha politics" but said a version of the video set to the "Chariots of Fire" theme was funny.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas insists that he hasn't watched the January 6 committee's recent raft of public hearings, even when a one-time intern of his — former White House official Cassidy Hutchinson — offered bombshell testimony about former President Donald Trump's conduct on the day of the Capitol riot.

But Cruz is still an avid Twitter user.

And much like the rest of Twitter, he was not able to avoid coming across a clip of security camera footage released by the committee showing Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri fleeing the Capitol just hours after pumping his fist at the mob.

"I think it's Democrats and the corporate media trying to play gotcha politics," Cruz told Insider at the Capitol on Tuesday. "The Capitol Police evacuated the Capitol, and so Josh left the Capitol, as did the rest of us."

But despite typically pivoting to issues like inflation or gas prices,  Cruz couldn't hold himself back this time.

"I'll admit — some of the Twitter folks setting it to music and the like, certainly worth a chuckle," he added. "But it's cheap, gotcha politics."

Asked what his favorite song might have been, Cruz initially demurred before saying that he was "partial to 'Chariots of Fire.'"

A clip of Hawley running to the theme song of the Academy Award-winning 1981 British sports drama film went viral on Thursday night.

Cruz and Hawley, both of whom led objections to the 2020 presidential election results on the day of the January 6 attack, are thought to be future presidential contenders. In recent months, the two have often endorsed opposing candidates in major GOP primary races.

But while Cruz is willing to poke fun at a competing conservative darling, he and Hawley are largely in lockstep on matters concerning January 6. That became clear when another reporter asked Cruz what he made of the fact that Hawley ran from the mob that he had just given an encouraging signal to.

"Well, that question does something that the corporate media has done for two years now, which is conflate the thousands of peaceful protesters who were exercising their First Amendment rights with the much smaller number of individuals who committed acts of violence," Cruz replied. "I condemn anyone who commits an act of violence regardless of their politics, whether I agree with their politics or not. If you assault a police officer, you should go to jail for a very long time."

Read the original article on Business Insider