Ted Cruz says his wife is ‘pissed’ over leaked Cancun texts, suggests people ‘just don’t be —holes’

• Ted Cruz said his wife was “pissed” over leaked group texts about their Cancun trip. 
• “Here’s a suggestion: just don’t be —holes,” Cruz said during a podcast interview. 
• Cruz has faced a wave of backlash for traveling to Cancun amid a deadly winter storm in Texas.
• Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.

GOP Sen. Ted Cruz on Tuesday said his wife, Heidi Cruz, was “pretty pissed” about leaked texts from a group chat regarding their controversial jaunt to Cancun, Mexico, last week. 

“Heidi’s pretty pissed at that,” Cruz said on the “Ruthless” podcast, referring to the leaked texts. “She actually was over at her neighbor’s house yesterday sort of walking through.”

After news broke of the Cruz’s trip to Cancun, texts were leaked to Insider and the New York Times from a group chat in which Heidi appeared to urge neighbors to join them on the excursion. 

“It’s a sign of how ridiculously politicized and nasty and just … You know, here’s a suggestion: just don’t be —holes,” Cruz said. “Just treat each other as human beings. Have some degree, some modicum of respect.”

—The Recount (@therecount) February 23, 2021

The Texas Republican has faced a wave of criticism and mockery for traveling to Cancun as his state faced a deadly winter storm, leaving millions without power, on top of the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cruz was spotted traveling to Cancun last Wednesday. Within less than a day, Cruz changed his travel plans and flew back to Texas.

He blamed the trip on his daughters, stating that they wanted to go to Cancun and be a “good dad.” Cruz told reporters that the original plan was to stay in Cancun through the weekend, but the “firestorm” he saw in response to the trip led him to return early. The Texas senator conceded that the tropical vacation was “obviously a mistake.”

But Cruz has already changed his tone.

On Monday, he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that the media is “obsessed” with his Cancun trip because it’s “suffering from Trump withdrawal.”