Cruz Delivers Quip About Judge Jackson After She Declined Cuban Coffee Offer

Sen. Ted Cruz cracked a joke against President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee, Ketjani Brown Jackson, stating that he became “highly suspect” of the judge after turned down his Cuban coffee offering.

The Texas Republican teased the SCOTUS nominee during an episode of his Verdict with Ted Cruz podcast last Thursday, just a few days after he met with Jackson in his office as she made all the rounds across the Capitol building ahead of her hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee later on this month.

“I’ll tell you a couple of interesting moments from meeting in my office,” Cruz went on to tell co-host Michael Knowles. “When she was there, I offered her and everyone there some Cuban coffee. As a Cuban American, sometimes, when people come to my office, we make Cuban coffee, and she turned down the Cuban Coffee.”

“Which, I got to say, anyone that turns down coffee I’m highly suspect of,” Cruz stated, going on to add, “I enjoyed the coffee.”

via Washington Examiner:

After the podcast clip was widely spread online, Cruz sought to clarify his remarks in response to criticism, tweeting, “Leftists have difficulty comprehending humor or sarcasm.”

Despite his insistence on playing somewhat tongue-in-cheek, Cruz has a record of opposition to Jackson, as he and Sen. John Cornyn voted against confirming her when she went before the Senate last year for an appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

“The people of Texas deserve a rigorous investigation of Judge Jackson’s nomination,” Cruz went on to say in a statement in February. “This is especially key in a time when too many parts of our executive and judicial branches are at risk of politicization.”

Cruz and Cornyn both sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is tasked with vetting Jackson’s nomination in Congress ahead of a full Senate vote slated to happen in the weeks after her hearings commence on March 21.

Cruz is absolutely right on the money. The people of Texas deserve this investigation, as does the rest of the country. We need to know who might potentially be sitting on the bench for the next several decades, helping to shape the legal direction of our nation.