Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz called out Cedric Richmond and Democrats for claiming Republicans are the reason law enforcement has been defunded as violent crime surges in U.S. cities. The lawmaker told "Hannity" Monday that the stance from the senior Biden White House aide is as "absurd" as claiming that Democrats support a "border wall" to curb illegal immigration.

TED CRUZ: Sean, I have to say it is remarkable that the White House is now apparently employing comedians. For them to run out and claim Republicans want to defund the police is like an arsonist showing up at the fire and blaming the firemen. That is like the Chinese blaming the Americans for the Wuhan virus. That is like O.J. saying he’s going to help find the real killer. That is like Democrats saying they are the ones that want to build the wall. It is absurd. It is ridiculous and they know it, but you know what, they’re also counting on the media all encircling Joe Biden in saying ‘poor uncle Joe, he doesn’t want to abolish the police.’ The last time Bill de Blasio, the Democratic mayor of New York campaigned on defunding the police, cut a billion dollars from the NYPD.

Last I checked, AOC is a Democrat, last I checked Tlaib is a Democrat, last I checked, Omar is a Democrat, last I checked the summer of love, remember you had a Democrat going come at us just the summer of love. I want to see the Democrats make the case to the American people: 'put us in charge like the mayor of Portland can say, put us in charge let us abolish your police. If you don’t like the murder rate, we can increase it by 800%. Look the Democrats understand they are in trouble. Abolishing the police is stupid. The American people know that.

By the way, African-Americans and Hispanics overwhelmingly oppose abolishing the police. Suddenly, these rich, White liberals who said let them be without the police… are realizing, oh, no, this is unpopular and so they are trying to claim these are not what you are looking for and ever supported it. It is absurd, it is ridiculous.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE:

Ted Cruz: Saying GOP wants to defund police is like saying Dems want to build a wall

'It's like an arsonist showing up at the fire and blaming the firemen,' Cruz tells 'Hannity'