Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican eyeing a 2028 White House run, torched Vice President Vance and ridiculed President Trump's tariff policy during private meetings with donors, according to recordings obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: Cruz's rebukes, during two meetings last year, are some of the harshest criticisms of Trump and Vance by a fellow Republican since they took office a year ago.
- The recordings — nearly 10 minutes in total — provide an unvarnished look at how Cruz is positioning himself as a traditional free trade, pro-interventionist Republican ahead of a possible 2028 primary campaign against the less hawkish Vance.
Zoom in: During his talks, Cruz cast Vance as a pawn of conservative podcaster Tucker Carlson. Cruz has accused Carlson of promoting antisemitism and an anti-Israel foreign policy in their well-publicized spats.
- The recordings of Cruz were provided to Axios by a Republican source. They were made in early and middle 2025.
In the latter recording, Cruz warns donors that Trump's tariffs could decimate the economy and lead to his impeachment.
- He tells them that after Trump introduced the tariffs in early April 2025, Cruz and a few other senators had a call with Trump in which they urged him to stand down. Cruz says the lengthy call, which stretched past midnight, "did not go well," and that Trump was "yelling" and "cursing."
"Trump was in a bad mood," Cruz tells the donors. "I've been in conversations where he was very happy. This was not one of them."
- Cruz says he told Trump: "Mr. President, if we get to November of [2026] and people's 401(k)s are down 30% and prices are up 10–20% at the supermarket, we're going to go into Election Day, face a bloodbath."
- "You're going to lose the House, you're going to lose the Senate, you're going to spend the next two years being impeached every single week."
Trump's response, according to Cruz: "F**k you, Ted."
When a questioner at the donors' session mentions "Liberation Day" — Trump's branding for his tariffs unveiling — Cruz jokes: "I've told my team if anyone uses those words, they will be terminated on the spot. That is not language we use."
- Cruz also told the donors about "battling" the White House to accept a trade agreement with India. When a donor asks who in the administration is resistant to reaching such accords, Cruz mentions White House economic adviser Peter Navarro, Vance and "sometimes" Trump.
Cruz repeatedly brings up Vance in the recordings, tying him to Carlson and accusing him of advancing the podcaster's anti-interventionist foreign policy.
- "Tucker created JD. JD is Tucker's protégé, and they are one and the same," Cruz says.
Between the lines: Cruz has been waging a months-long campaign against Carlson on social media. But he has refrained from publicly linking Carlson and Vance, who are friends.
At one point in the recordings, Cruz alleges that Vance and Carlson pushed for the ousting of former national security adviser Mike Waltz because Waltz supported bombing Iran — a position Trump ultimately embraced.
- Waltz "supported being vigorous against Iran and bombing Iran — and Tucker and JD took Mike out," Cruz tells the donors.
- Vance has said he supported the bombings of Iran's nuclear sites last June.
Cruz also says Vance and Carlson were behind the appointment of Army veteran Daniel Davis, a sharp critic of U.S. support for Israel, to a top national intelligence position.
- The senator called Davis "a guy who viciously hates Israel," and said he helped get Davis quickly removed from the job.
What they're saying: A Cruz spokesperson said in a statement that the senator is "the president's greatest ally in the Senate and battles every day in the trenches to advance his agenda."
- "Those battles include fights over staffers who try to enter the administration despite disagreeing with the president and seeking to undermine his foreign policy," the statement said.
- "Sen. Cruz is proud of those fights, his accomplishments, and his close relationship with the president. These attempts at sowing division are pathetic and getting boring."
Carlson told Axios that he "didn't have anything to do" with the ousting of Waltz or the hiring of Davis.
- Spokespeople for Trump and Vance didn't respond to requests for comment.
