Sen. Ted Cruz engaged in a back-and-forth with a reporter while arguing that President Trump was justified in asking leaders in Ukraine to launch investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son.
"The House [impeachment] managers based their entire case on the proposition that investigating corruption for Burisma and concerning the Bidens was baseless and a sham," Cruz said during a press conference on Monday. "That proposition is absurd ... We've just seen two hours of evidence."
A reporter pressed Cruz, saying, "But senator ... None of the president's attorneys mentioned one single possible crime ... Basically, what they said is Hunter Biden got a job, his dad was vice president. If that's a crime, I mean, shouldn't half of your children be in prison?"
"My children are 9 and 11," Cruz responded. "I'm sorry you want to throw a 9-year-old in prison," Cruz responded. "So, stop playing that nasty Washington game."
The reporter responded, "That's not a nasty Washington game."
"Attacking a 9-year-old?" Cruz asked before moving on with the press conference.
Cruz has two daughters: Caroline, 11, and Catherine, 9. His wife, Heidi Cruz, left a job managing a hedge fund to campaign for her husband in 2015.
Trump's impeachment lawyers spent Monday laying out what they said was a solid justification for Trump urging the Ukrainian government to investigate corruption allegations against the Bidens during a July 2019 phone call. The call triggered an intelligence community whistleblower report, which alleged that vital military aid was conditioned on the investigations.
The president was then impeached by the House on two charges: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Cruz and Trump's other Republican defenders on Capitol Hill have called for Hunter Biden, who made $50,000 a month while sitting on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma while his father was still vice president, to testify. Some have even floated the idea of allowing witnesses requested by Democrats to testify in exchange.
"Additional witnesses are not necessary. The House managers have presented their case, they haven't come remotely close to meeting their burden of proof," Cruz said. "If the Senate, later this week when we vote on witnesses, decides to go down the road to additional witnesses, I think, at a minimum, the most important witness for the Senate to hear from is now Hunter Biden."