- Senator Ted Cruz criticized VP JD Vance and President Trump in leaked 2025 audio recordings
- Cruz opposed Trump's tariff policy, warning it could harm the economy and lead to impeachment
- The senator described a tense call with Trump where the president cursed at him and others
Cracks within the Donald Trump administration in the United States came under the spotlight when an audio recording of Senator Ted Cruz surfaced, where he openly criticised Vice President JD Vance and 'sometimes' even President Trump. Cruz, a Texas Republican, slammed Trump's tariff-driven trade policy and blamed Vance, White House adviser Peter Navarro and, at times, even the President for blocking the India-US trade deal, according to an Axios report.
The publication said the audio recordings, nearly 10 minutes in total, were provided by a Republican source and were made in early and middle 2025, capturing Cruz speaking to private donors. In the conversations, the Republican lawmaker casts himself as a traditional free-trade, pro-interventionist Republican, positioning for a possible 2028 primary challenge against the less hawkish Vance.
ALSO READ: "We're Going To Have A Good Deal": Trump's Praise For "Friend" PM Modi
Disagreement Over Trump Tariffs
Cruz ridiculed President Trump's trade policy and reportedly warned donors that US tariffs could decimate the economy and lead to the President's impeachment. He then told them that after Trump introduced the tariffs in early April 2025, he and a few other senators had a call with the President urging him to stand down.
But the call, which stretched past midnight, apparently did not go well, with Cruz saying that Trump "yelled" at them and "cursed" them.
"Trump was in a bad mood," Cruz told the donors. "I've been in conversations where he was very happy. This was not one of them."
ALSO READ: Watch: Tucker Carlson Grills US Senator Ted Cruz Over US Involvement In Iran
He then said that he told Trump, "Mr President, if we get to November of [2026] and people's 401(k)s are down 30 per cent and prices are up 10-20 per cent at the supermarket, we're going to go into Election Day, face a bloodbath," the report 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."
Trump's response, according to Cruz: "F**k you, Ted."
When a questioner at the donors' session mentioned "Liberation Day" – Trump's branding for his tariff unveiling – Cruz joked, "I've told my team if anyone uses those words, they will be terminated on the spot. That is not language we use."
India-US Trade Deal
Cruz also told the donors about "battling" the White House to accept a trade agreement with India. When a donor asks who in the administration is resistant to reaching such accords, Cruz mentions White House economic adviser Peter Navarro, Vance and "sometimes" Trump.
ALSO READ: Sanctions On India For Russia Deal "Extraordinarily Foolhardy": US Senator
JD Vance Adversary
In the recording, Cruz cast Vance as a pawn of conservative podcaster Tucker Carlson. The lawmaker has accused Carlson of promoting antisemitism and an anti-Israel foreign policy in their well-publicised spats.
Cruz repeatedly brings up Vance in the recordings, tying him to Carlson and accusing him of advancing the podcaster's anti-interventionist foreign policy.
"Tucker created JD. JD is Tucker's protege, and they are one and the same," Cruz said.
Cruz has been waging a months-long campaign against Carlson on social media, but so far he has refrained from publicly linking him with Vance, who are friends.
