Ted Cruz on Greece vacation as Texas floods hit, returns after criticism

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz said he called President Donald Trump within the first hours of the catastrophic flooding that hit Texas on Friday.

"It was still early in what was transpiring," Cruz said at a press conference on Monday. "I said, 'Mr. President, everything we're hearing right now, this appears to be bad. Really bad. There may be a very significant loss of life unfolding right now in Texas.'"

The Republican senator made the call from Greece, where he was on a pre-planned vacation with his family.

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The next day, he was spotted touring the Parthenon in Athens with his wife.

A photo of Cruz on the tour was posted on the social media site Bluesky. Michael Rocchio, who took the photo, said in an interview with the Houston Chronicle it was taken about 6 p.m. in Athens, which would be about 10 a.m. CST. Thirty minutes later, local officials in Kerr County confirmed in a press conference that 27 people were dead and dozens more were missing. The death count has since grown to more than 80.

"I get it, he's on vacation," said Rocchio, who is not a Texan and is openly critical of Cruz's political beliefs. "But after what happened, vacation or not, you should have been back on a plane on his way back to Texas to deal with everything that was going on with those poor kids in the floodplain."

Cruz's office said the senator booked the earliest available flight back to Texas when he learned of the disaster Friday. He left Athens Sunday morning and was back in Texas Sunday night. His office said he continued to work from Greece.

"The Senator was already in the middle of pre-planned family vacation travel overseas when the flooding occurred," a spokeswoman for Cruz said. "Within hours, he spoke by phone with Governor (Greg) Abbott, Lt. Governor (Dan) Patrick, Texas Emergency Management Director Nim Kidd, and President Trump, working to ensure that the maximum federal assets were available for search and rescue. He and his team worked closely with local officials and with families of missing girls throughout that time."

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On Friday afternoon, Cruz posted about the calls with other Texas officials on the social media site X.

"Multiple helicopters are performing search & rescue," he wrote. "President Trump committed ANYTHING Texas needs."

Cruz was not the only elected official out of the state when the floods hit. Abbott was also traveling, and Patrick was the acting governor. Abbott was back in Texas on Friday and held a press conference that night.

On Monday morning, Cruz was at a press conference in Kerr County, where he joined other officials in providing an update on the flooding that killed at least 82 people.

"Texas is grieving right now," Cruz said. "The pain, the shock of what has transpired the last few days has broken the heart of our state."