Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has been one of President Donald Trump's staunchest defenders on Capitol Hill -- despite all of the disparaging things Trump said about "Lyin' Ted Cruz" during the 2016 GOP primary.
On Friday, Texas Republican claimed that the impeachment trial was not about Ukraine.
"The Democrats’ Articles of Impeachment are not about Ukraine," Cruz argued.
"Impeachment for the Democrats is a partisan political game they are playing. They are mad at the American people for electing President Trump and are trying to undo the election through their sham impeachment," Cruz argued.
In fact, the American people did not elect Trump, who lost the 2016 election by 2,868,686 votes. He was installed as president by only 304 members of the Electoral College.
Cruz was harshly criticized for his claims.
Ron Brownstein, a senior editor at The Atlantic, said congressional Republicans, "are coming closer to saying explicitly what has been increasingly apparent during #impeachment: they flatly reject the authority of Democrats from blue America to scrutinize or sanction a president representing red America."
"It is an ominously separatist vision," Brownstein concluded.
Here's some of what people were saying.
