Ted Cruz says GOP senators were ‘screaming’ at Todd Blanche during ‘anti-weaponization’ fund briefing
The private meeting came hours before the Senate postponed a critical vote to advance a partisan funding bill for ICE and Border Patrol.
May 22, 2026, 7:51 PM CDT / Updated May 22, 2026, 9:03 PM CDT
By Brennan Leach and Kyla Guilfoil
Screaming, yelling and accusations of self-dealing.
That’s how Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Friday described a closed-door meeting with Senate Republicans and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on the Trump administration’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that’s drawn bipartisan opposition.
On his podcast “Verdict with Ted Cruz,” the Texas senator described the meeting as “one of the roughest meetings I’ve seen in my entire time in the Senate.”
“Fiery does not begin to cut it,” Cruz said. “My guess is there’re probably 45 senators in the room, at least half of them were blasting the attorney general, and they were pissed.”
Senate Republicans met with Blanche on Thursday to discuss the fund, which ultimately derailed a vote on a Republican bill to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, NBC News previously reported.
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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/ted-cruz-senators-screaming-todd-blanche-trump-anti-weaponization-fund-rcna346599?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
