Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has been a MAGA loyalist for years, backing President Donald Trump shortly after losing out to him for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election.
However, in new secret recordings obtained by Axios, the Republican senator expressed skepticism about some of the administration’s actions behind closed doors.
The tapes from two meetings with Republican donors that were recorded last year reportedly include almost 10 minutes of audio in which Cruz mocks Trump’s tariff policies, accuses Vice President JD Vance of being a “protégé” of conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, and blames outside influences for Trump’s appointment of Army veteran Daniel Davis to a top intelligence position, despite Cruz’s claim that Davis “viciously hates Israel.”
In one recording, Cruz is reportedly heard mocking the president’s “Liberation Day” event in April 2025, in which the president unveiled sweeping tariffs on nearly all U.S. imports.
“I’ve told my team if anyone uses those words, they will be terminated on the spot. That is not language we use,” he says of the “Liberation Day” moniker.
Cruz also reportedly details a phone call that he and other senators had with Trump following the announcement, in which they warned that the tariffs could wreak havoc on the economy and possibly threaten his presidency.
“Trump was in a bad mood,” the senator reportedly tells donors in the audio, adding that the president was “yelling” and “cursing.”
“I’ve been in conversations where he was very happy. This was not one of them,” he adds.
In a recording, Cruz reportedly recalls warning Trump that a plunging economy could lead to a “bloodbath” in the 2026 midterm elections.
“[I said] you’re going to lose the House, you’re going to lose the Senate, you’re going to spend the next two years being impeached every single week,” he says.
Trump’s alleged response was, “F— you, Ted.”
Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump, JD Vance and Mike Johnson at the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty
Axios, which noted that Cruz could find himself in a presidential primary battle with Vance in 2028, also reports that the senator seemingly undermined the vice president in a recording, focusing in on Vance’s relationship with Carlson.
“Tucker created JD. JD is Tucker’s protégé, and they are one and the same,” Cruz reportedly says in one of the recordings.
Cruz’s distaste for Carlson has made headlines over the past year, with the senator accusing the former Fox News personality of antisemitism for conducting an interview with White nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, whom Cruz called a “little goose-stepping Nazi.”
Cruz had an explosive interview of his own with Carlson months prior, where Carlson slammed the senator for alluding to him being antisemitic over his views on Israel.
Cruz has criticized Carlson for his anti-isolationist foreign policy views, which include downgrading Israel’s level of priority in U.S. strategy in favor of the Gulf states.
In a statement to Axios in November 2025, Cruz said, “We have a responsibility to speak out even when it’s uncomfortable. When voices in our own movement push dangerous and misguided ideas, we can’t look the other way. I won’t hesitate to call out those who peddle destructive, vile rhetoric and threaten our principles and our future. Silence in the face of recklessness is not an option.”
However, Cruz has steered clear of publicly linking Vance’s policies to Carlson’s as strongly as he reportedly did in the private meetings.
Elsewhere in the recording, Cruz also accuses Vance and Carlson of pushing their own agendas in the hiring and firing of Trump advisers, according to Axios.
He alleges that the pair pushed Trump to fire former national security adviser Mike Waltz, because Waltz “supported being vigorous against Iran and bombing Iran — and Tucker and JD took Mike out.”
He also alleges that Vance and Carlson were behind the appointment of Army veteran Daniel Davis to a top national intelligence position, despite Cruz’s claim that Davis “viciously hates Israel.” National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard withdrew her nomination of Davis after pressure from fellow Republicans.
Carlson told Axios that he “didn’t have anything to do” with the ousting of Waltz or the hiring of Davis.
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In a statement to PEOPLE about the recordings, a spokesperson for Cruz said that the senator is “the president’s greatest ally in the Senate and battles every day in the trenches to advance his agenda.”
“Those battles include fights over staffers who try to enter the administration despite disagreeing with the president and seeking to undermine his foreign policy,” the statement continued. “Sen. Cruz is proud of those fights, his accomplishments, and his close relationship with the president. These attempts at sowing division are pathetic and getting boring.”
Despite the leaked recordings, Cruz is slated to appear with Trump at a summit on Wednesday, Jan. 28, celebrating the launch of “Trump Accounts,” a program to offer seed money to newborn babies in the United States.
PEOPLE also reached out to the White House, the vice president’s office and Davis for comment on Axios’ reporting.