Ted Cruz gets all he can manage in heated exchange with TMZ reporter

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) got all he could manage from tabloid-turned-Washington watchdog TMZ as one of its reporters pressed him for answers.

"I'm a little bit concerned that January 6 rioters, violent January 6 rioters who were convicted then pardoned, I'm a little bit worried that they're going to be entitled to taxpayer money," TMZ reporter Charlie Cotton said to Cruz, referring to Trump's $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization fund" that's expected to enrich his allies.

"Do you think they should be eligible for this sort of slush fund?" Cotton asked Cruz.

"I'm not surprised you're worried about that, but were you worried at all when Joe Biden was weaponizing the Department of Justice?" Cruz responded, deflecting the question.

"I don't want to talk about Joe Biden," Cotton shot back.

"I know you don't," Cruz said, now upset. "I understand you got a political agenda."

"I just don't want to pay January 6 rioters," Cotton said.

Cruz insisted he was just trying to answer Cotton's question, but then he went back to make his point about Biden.

"Do you think January 6 rioters should be eligible for this money?" Cotton repeated. "Yes or no?"

Cruz went right back to talking about Biden, and when Cotton again said, "I'm not talking about Biden," the senator looked frustrated and defended January 6 rioters as "peaceful protesters" who were "deliberately targeted" by Biden's Department of Justice.

When Cotton asked the question one more time, Cruz quietly entered an elevator and watched the doors close on the reporter.