Recordings obtained Saturday by Axios capture Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz – preparing for a potential 2028 White House campaign – launching fierce attacks on Vice President JD Vance and mocking President Donald Trump's tariff agenda during confidential donor meetings.
The nearly 10-minute audio compilation represents one of the most brutal Republican critiques of Trump and Vance since they assumed office one year earlier. Cruz used the early and middle 2025 sessions to establish himself as a conventional free-trade, interventionist Republican, positioned against Vance's less hawkish approach ahead of possible 2028 primary contests, according to the outlet.
Cruz depicted Vance as Tucker Carlson's puppet throughout his remarks to donors. The senator has clashed publicly with Carlson over the conservative podcaster's promotion of antisemitism and anti-Israel foreign policy.
Axios received the recordings from a Republican source who documented Cruz's comments at early- and mid-2025 gatherings, the outlet reported. In one audio segment, Cruz warned donors that Trump's tariffs threatened economic devastation and potential impeachment. After Trump unveiled tariffs in April 2025, Cruz joined other senators on a call urging the president to reverse course, he explained. The late-night conversation – stretching beyond midnight – "did not go well," featuring Trump "yelling" and "cursing," Cruz revealed.
"Trump was in a bad mood," Cruz informed his audience. "I've been in conversations where he was very happy. This was not one of them." Cruz recounted warning Trump: "Mr. President, if we get to November of [2026] and people's 401(k)s are down 30% and prices are up 10–20% at the supermarket, we're going to go into Election Day, face a bloodbath," Axios stated.
The senator continued: "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." Trump replied: "F**k you, Ted," Cruz disclosed, Axios reported.
When a donor mentioned "Liberation Day" – Trump's marketing label for the tariff rollout – Cruz responded sarcastically: "I've told my team if anyone uses those words, they will be terminated on the spot. That is not language we use." Cruz described "battling" administration officials over a trade pact with India, according to Axios. When asked which figures resist such agreements, Cruz identified White House economic adviser Peter Navarro, Vance, and "sometimes" Trump, the outlet noted.
Throughout the recordings, Cruz repeatedly invoked Vance, connecting the vice president to Carlson and claiming he advances Carlson's anti-interventionist foreign policy. "Tucker created JD. JD is Tucker's protégé, and they are one and the same," Cruz stated. He has mounted sustained social media campaigns against Carlson for months but avoided publicly linking Carlson to Vance, who are friends, before these recordings surfaced, Axios noted.
One audio segment features Cruz alleging Vance and Carlson orchestrated former national security adviser Mike Waltz's dismissal over Waltz's support for Iran bombing, which Trump eventually endorsed. Waltz "supported being vigorous against Iran and bombing Iran — and Tucker and JD took Mike out," Cruz told donors. Vance publicly backed the June strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities.
Cruz also accused Vance and Carlson of championing Daniel Davis – an Army veteran and harsh critic of US-Israel support – for a senior national intelligence role. Cruz labeled Davis "a guy who viciously hates Israel" and said he helped orchestrate Davis's rapid removal. Carlson informed Axios he "didn't have anything to do" with Waltz's ouster or Davis's hiring.
A Cruz spokesperson declared the senator serves as "the president's greatest ally in the Senate and battles every day in the trenches to advance his agenda," Axios stated. "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 spokesperson continued.
Trump and Vance spokespeople offered no responses to Axios's comment requests.
