Ted Cruz describes Jan. 6 plot on new tape released by ex-Tucker Carlson producer

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was the first of 11 senators who objected to the certification of President Biden's 2020 electoral victory on Jan. 6, 2021, as part of a plot that former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro called the "Green Bay Sweep." Navarro described the plan openly to MSNBC's Ari Melber in January 2022. And Cruz, one of the key players in the plan, discussed it off-camera with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo on Jan. 2, 2021, according to secret recordings from former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg. 

A lawyer for Grossberg — who was one of Bartiromo's top producers before moving to Tucker Carlson's show, which she described as a toxic stew of sexism and frat-boy towel-snapping in a lawsuit against Fox News — shared the recording with Melber and The Washington Post. 

The recording, the Post reports, "sheds new light on the scope of Cruz's scheming to assist Donald Trump in overturning Biden's victory." Cruz told Bartiromo, a prominent purveyor of Trump's false claims that the election was stolen from him, that his goal in stopping the certification of Biden's win was to set up a commission to look at the election results, and if it found "credible evidence of fraud that undermines confidence in the electoral results in any given state," the state would pick a winner in a special legislative session. 

"Is there any chance you can overturn this?" Bartiromo asked Cruz on the tape. "I hope so," he said.

Melber noted Tuesday night that Cruz, in another recording, had admitted there was no credible evidence of voter fraud. He described the "secret" recording as more solid evidence that Cruz and his allies were literally plotting a coup. 

Cruz, in a tweet, called Melber a clown for "breathlessly reporting that I 'secretly' said in a phone call . . . the EXACT same thing I said on national television the next morning! And then said again on the Senate floor four days later."

Cruz, on the same day he briefed Bartiromo on his plan for an electoral commission, "unveiled the plan to GOP lawmakers in Congress," the Post reports. "While it was panned by some of Trump's most loyal allies — and by some of Cruz's advisers — the commission caught the attention of the former president, who tweeted in support of Cruz's road map."