Senator Ted Cruz’s series of apologies explaining why he fled his home state in the midst of a winter storm crisis to vacation in Cancún continued to fall apart when United Airlines confirmed it was investigating how its flight itinerary leaked to press.
And, in addition to the pending investigation, it was reported by Axios on Sunday that Mr. Cruz invited his longtime friend and college roommate to his family’s vacation, throwing another key in his story.
On Monday, the airline said it was investigating how the media was informed about the Republican senator’s original plan to travel home after a long weekend getaway – and subsequent flight change, which occurred after intense reaction against his reported trips.
Tens of thousands of its employees maintain access to flight and customer data, United Airlines said Political, who noted how rare these leaks remain in the civil aviation industry. A United executive told the news agency, “It is against United’s policies to share personal information about our customers and we are investigating this incident.”
The senator’s travel arrangements also became public information when he was put on an update waiting list on Thursday, the day after he was spotted with his wife at a Houston airport en route to Mexico for his vacation, while millions of Texans remained without power and basic needs due to the storm. These update waiting lists were publicly available online.
Mr. Cruz originally booked his flight back for Saturday, but the travel information leaked to reporter Edward Russell indicated that the itinerary had been rescheduled at around 6:00 am on Thursday of last week, according to news from the senator’s travels. .
Lawmakers and critics on both sides of the political corridor have condemned the senator for fleeing Texas while the unprecedented winter storm caused continuous blackouts and put the state in a water and energy crisis. On Thursday, as requests for Cruz to step down increased, he told the media that the trip was planned at the request of his daughters.
“It was obviously a mistake and, on second thought, I wouldn’t have made that,” said Cruz.
He originally made it look like he was just visiting during the day to send his kids and wife with friends to Cancun, where they were staying at the Ritz Carlton.
“Wanting to be a good father, I went down with them last night and will be back this afternoon,” said the senator in an initial statement. “My team and I are in constant communication with state and local leaders to find out what happened in Texas.”
He added: “I didn’t want all the shouting and shouting about this trip to distract even for a moment from the real problems that I think Texans are concerned about, which is keeping all of our families safe.”
But these claims were considered essentially false, as it became clear that he planned to stay in Mexico until Saturday with his friends and family. Axios quoted an aide to the senator who said he extended the invitation to his roommate at Princeton and Harvard Law, David Panton, after the family booked the trip last Tuesday.
As Panton remained in Mexico, Cruz was forced to return home, where he took on community service and charity work that was widely criticized as a photo shoot amid the growing reaction on his travels.
On Monday, Political reported that United was considering a number of options depending on the results of its investigation, with an airline executive telling the news agency that nothing was “off the table”.
At least 58 people have died in Texas since the series of winter storms and freezing temperatures that left the cold state in the Arctic, according to several reports. Emergency teams are still working to discover the full impact of winter storms, which analysts say can have lasting damaging impacts on poor and low-income communities across the state.