Ted Cruz tracked President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance in conversations with GOP donors last year, explosive leaked recordings allege.
The Texas senator, who is expected to run for president in 2028, criticized Trump’s tariff crusade and said he threatened to fire his staff immediately if they used the phrase “Emancipation Day” to refer to the day the sweeping tariffs were announced, Axios reports.
Cruz, 55, told donors that he and other senators expressed their distaste for the tariffs in a long phone call with Trump, warning that it would tank the economy and lead to his impeachment. The call pushed past midnight and “didn’t go well,” Cruz told donors, with Trump “yelling” and “cursing” at lawmakers.
Cruz claims to have received a particularly candid response from the president that night.
“Mr. President, if we get to November [2026] And people’s 401(k)s are down 30% and prices at the supermarket are up 10-20%, we’re going to have a bloodbath going into Election Day,” Cruz told Trump, according to the recording.
Trump reportedly responded bluntly: “‘F— you, Ted.’
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz stands behind then-President-elect Donald Trump during the November 2024 launch of a SpaceX Starship rocket in Brownsville, Texas. / Brandon Bell / Getty Images
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Cruz’s office did not deny the content of the recording in a statement to Axios. Still, Cruz’s office asserted that he is still “the president’s greatest ally in the Senate and fights in the trenches every day to advance his agenda.”
Axios reports that the recordings were “about 10 minutes in total” and came from conversations in “early to mid-2025.” The site said the recordings were provided by a “Republican source.”
It’s unclear which donors Cruz was talking to.
Donald Trump’s attack on Heidi Cruz from the 2016 GOP presidential primary.
Trump referred to Cruz as “Lynn’ Ted” during the 2016 GOP presidential primary and also suggested that his wife, Heidi, is ugly compared to Melania. Still, Cruz has largely done Trump’s bidding in the Senate, and he even campaigned for him in 2024.
Cruz, 55, is now believed to be eyeing another run for the White House, hoping to become the more traditional GOP heir to Trumpism. Standing in his way is Vance, 41, who is the overwhelming favorite to win the Republican nomination in the eyes of prediction markets.
The prediction market lists Vice President JD Vance as the most likely to win the GOP presidential primary. / Kalsi
Vance was “burned” by Cruise in a secret recording, Axios reported. Sources also told The Washington Post last month that Cruz privately vilifies donors to the VP.
In recordings obtained by Axios, Cruz claimed that Vance was a “pawn of conservative podcaster Tucker Carlson,” one of Cruz’s biggest enemies, clashing with the ex-Fox News host in an explosive interview last summer over the Trump administration’s attack on Iranian nuclear sites. Cruz supported the intervention and repeatedly criticized Carlson for his opposition to US military support for Israel.
“Tucker created the Jedi,” Cruz told donors, according to Axios. “JD is Tucker’s protégé, and they are one and the same.”
Publicly, Cruise has apparently never connected with Vance and Carlson. He accused donors that national security adviser Mike Waltz of the Signalgate scandal was pushed out of Trump’s cabinet by Carlson and Vance.
“[He] He supported getting stronger against Iran and bombing Iran — and Tucker and J.D. took the mic out,” Cruz said, according to Axios.
Carlson said Axios had nothing to do with the high-profile eviction.
