FIRST ON FOX: Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas did not hold back when talking midterms, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) raid on former President Trump, and President Biden’s future political prospects in a Tuesday phone interview.
Cruz hopped on the phone with Fox News Digital for an exclusive interview ahead of his headlining appearance at the Together for Truth summit hosted by the Truth and Courage PAC in Atlanta, Georgia, this upcoming Saturday.
The Texas senator told Fox News Digital the summit is meant "to energize and mobilize grassroots voters in Georgia" ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, similar to the group’s previous rally in Wisconsin.
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Cruz said Georgia and Wisconsin are "pivotal battleground states" for control of the Senate as well as have critical down-ballot races. The senator also said the summit will help "empower grassroots activists" to increase voter turnout in November.
The summit, which has free registration and offers a free barbecue for attendees, also provides workshops on persuasive communications, making an impact on elections, and activism.
Cruz said Georgia’s 2021 Senate special election saw "depressed" Republican turnout, which is why the seat went blue, but predicted GOP voters won’t be staying home this year after the "damage done to the country from Georgia having two Democrat senators who arrived to be a rubber stamp for the Angry Socialist Caucus in the Democratic Party."
"We've seen trillions in new spending. Trillions in new debt. Trillions of dollars printed," Cruz said. "As a result, we've seen inflation skyrocketing across the country. We've seen gas prices skyrocketing across the country. We've seen crime out of control — murder rates way, way up, carjacking rates way, way up."
"We've seen absolute chaos on the southern border" he continued. "The worst illegal immigration in 62 years, and the Democrat Senate has been entirely complicit in that disaster and has refused to do anything to stop it."
Cruz said "Georgia has an opportunity" to elect a Republican senator to replace incumbent Democrat Senator Raphael Warnock and "flip control of the Senate."
In terms of the midterm elections, Cruz predicted Republicans will flip both chambers come November.
The Texas Republican put the odds of the House flipping red "north of 90 percent" while predicting a 60 percent chance of the GOP taking the Senate.
"It is closer because the math is not as favorable," Cruz said. "There are more vulnerable Republican seats on the ballot than there are vulnerable Democrats seats."
"That being said, I think it is going to be a very, very good year for Republicans. I think the environment is strong," Cruz continued. "I think Joe Biden's record has been abominable, which is reflected in his abominable poll numbers."
"And a Democrat senator trying to get reelected when the president at the top of the ticket is at -20 or -30 in the state is not easy," the senator said, adding he believes Georgia is "a prime pickup opportunity" as Warnock runs further to the left than his state’s temperament.
One of the big issues Republicans will likely message on in the midterms is the FBI’s unprecedented raid on former President Trump's residence at Mar-a-Lago.
Cruz decried the raid as "political," "partisan," "corrupt," and "an absolute abuse of power," adding that the raid "continues, sadly, a trend we have seen now for over a decade of the [Department of Justice] and the FBI being politicized and weaponized."
The senator said the weaponization of the DOJ began under former President Obama and pulled off "what Richard Nixon tried to do." He also said that the partisans brought in during the Obama administration "burrowed down" into senior roles at their agencies before Biden "fully unleashed" them when coming into power.
"Merrick Garland has already proven to be the most political attorney general we have ever seen," Cruz said. "Right down to sending the FBI to target parents who dare to speak up at school board meetings to treat them as domestic terrorists under the Patriot Act."
"Their hatred for Donald Trump is so all-consuming, they simply don't care," Cruz also said. "I don't believe the raid had much of anything to do with the Presidential Records Act."
Cruz said he believes the invocation of the Presidential Records Act "was a fig leaf" and "an excuse," calling the raid "an old-fashioned fishing expedition where they went and they seized everything they could find hoping to find something, some book, some credible basis to go after Donald Trump because he is the principal political opponent to Joe Biden."
The Texas senator said the raid has "benefited" Trump "enormously" and has joked the former president’s campaign should "notify the [Federal Elections Commission] that the Biden administration has just made an in-kind political contribution" due to the raid’s effect.
Cruz added that "Merrick Garland has done more damage to the FBI and Department of Justice than anyone in modern history, including John Mitchell," Nixon’s attorney general.
The Texas Republican said he is "certain" there will also be probes into the Democrats’ elephant in the room of Hunter Biden, noting the First Son’s conduct "has been flagrantly criminal" and the "political double standard is obvious and indefensible."
"For two years now, I have called upon the Department of Justice to appoint a special counsel to investigate the evidence of multiple felonies carried out by Hunter Biden," Cruz said. "He's put videos online of himself with crack cocaine and naked prostitutes and waving a firearm in the air."
"If anybody else did that — who didn't happen to be the child of the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue — they would get a knock at the door and find themselves in handcuffs," the senator added, noting Senate Republicans will do everything in their power to "ensure accountability."
As for Biden’s prospects to return to the White House, Cruz was unequivocal.
"I think there is zero chance that Joe Biden runs again in 2024. He is obviously too old. He is not able to do the job today," "The degree of his mental impairment, at this point, is deeply disturbing. This is a man who shakes hands with the empty air. This is a man who talks to the Easter Bunny."
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"Biden is not up to the job today, and I think there is zero possibility he will run again in 2024," Cruz said.
Cruz predicted "there will be a big, vigorous Democrat primary" and noted there are already several Democrats "firing shots at each other on a daily basis because the Democrat 2024 primary has already started."
Registration for the Together for Truth summit is free and will feature several prominent speakers including Cruz, Georgia Senate candidate Hershel Walker, and Texas congressional candidate Wesley Hunt.