'This is gaslighting!' Ted Cruz laughed at as he uses 'Les Mis' to rage at Jack Smith

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) drew an immediate rebuke from a Democratic colleague after he repeatedly shouted over former special counsel Jack Smith.

The clash came Tuesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing where Smith was the only witness. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), who spoke after Cruz, accused Republicans of "gaslighting" at the hearing to push the claim that President Donald Trump won the 2020 election.

"You subpoenaed records associated with my phones, both personal and office, and you sought and obtained a court order to prevent me from knowing about it," Cruz told Smith as he opened his questioning.

Cruz then demanded yes-or-no answers on whether Smith's team had subpoenaed Republican and conservative groups, including the Republican National Committee and Turning Point USA. Smith said he did not recall every subpoena and offered to explain why they were issued.

"We had to conduct an investigation about whether any person or entity violated the law with respect to the attempt to block the peaceful transfer of power. To make that decision —" Smith began after Cruz told him to explain "briefly."

"Yes! I understand! And you used that as an excuse to engage in a massive fishing expedition targeting over 400 Republicans, and it was disgraceful!" Cruz shot back.

Cruz next turned to the secrecy orders that kept him and other Republican senators from learning that their phone records had been sought. He said U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who signed the orders, should be impeached.

Cruz read aloud from one order, which found reasonable grounds to believe that disclosing the subpoenas would lead to destroyed evidence and intimidated witnesses. He asked Smith for any evidence that Republican senators, himself included, would do that.

"We had powerful evidence that Donald Trump and his associates were —" Smith responded.

"Am I Donald Trump?" Cruz cut in.

"You are not, sir," Smith answered.

"I want you to tell us, did you have a shred of evidence that 20% of the Republicans in the Senate would destroy evidence and intimidate witnesses?" Cruz pressed moments later.

"We had a strong reason to believe that Donald Trump would destroy evidence," Smith said.

"That was not directed at Donald Trump! It — it was stated as disclosing it to members of the Senate!" Cruz interrupted.

"No. It was stated [as] disclosing it to anyone, and we do not have to wait for someone to be injured for an investigation to be obstructed," Smith replied.

"We had strong reason to believe that Donald Trump would obstruct our investigation, given the obstruction alleged in the Florida indictment, given the attempts to intimidate witnesses in the election case, given the threats that were later made to witnesses in the election case," he continued, referring to the classified documents case in Florida.

Cruz went on to argue that a federal law protecting Senate phone records made the secrecy orders illegal. Smith said his team had followed both the law and Justice Department policy.

"It was explicitly contrary to federal statute! It was explicitly contrary to the federal Constitution! Let me ask you this. Do you have any regrets?" Cruz demanded.

"Yes. I regret that the people I worked with have been unfairly fired and vilified —" Smith said before Cruz cut him off.

"Of course! You can't bring yourself — well, let me say congratulations, because you have succeeded where Richard Nixon failed, which is weaponizing the Department of Justice and the federal government to go after your political opponents. Congratulations!" Cruz shouted.

"And I understand, for the rest of your life, you're gonna be hailed as a hero in the resistance movement. I assume you have a pink hat somewhere at home, and people will be proud of you for resisting," the Texas Republican continued.

"Javert from 'Les Mis' would look at you with astonishment. I believe you have no regrets," Cruz added, invoking the police inspector who relentlessly hunts the hero of "Les Misérables."

"My colleague goes almost two minutes over time quoting Javert and 'Les Mis,'" Booker said when his turn came.

"Let me get back to the reality of the American people and what they're witnessing right now. This is gaslighting the American people," the New Jersey Democrat insisted.

"We are using precious time of one of the most vaunted committees in American history, the Judiciary Committee, to perpetrate one of the biggest gaslighting attempts we have ever seen in our 250 years as a country: that somehow Donald Trump won the 2020 election. And when he wasn't satisfied with his loss, he then tried to cheat," Booker pointed out.