Texas storm: Ted Cruz defends trip to Mexico as power outages continue – as it happened

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1.06am GMT

- Joan E Greve and Maanvi Singh

12.45am GMT

Texas senator Ted Cruz said that in flying to Cancun while millions of his constituents endured a devastating winter storm without electricity, he was simply being a good dad", dropping his daughters and their friends off at the Mexican resort destination after schools were closed due to the storm.

But the New York Times found that group texts between Cruz's wife Heidi and their neighbors suggest otherwise:

Text messages sent from Ms. Cruz to friends and Houston neighbors on Wednesday revealed a hastily planned trip. Their house was FREEZING," as Ms. Cruz put it - and she proposed a getaway until Sunday. Ms. Cruz invited others to join them at the Ritz-Carlton in Cancun, where they had stayed many times," noting the room price this week ($309 per night) and its good security. The text messages were provided to The New York Times and confirmed by a second person on the thread, who declined to be identified because of the private nature of the texts.

If Mr. Cruz intended to leave the impression that he meant to stay for only a day, his large suitcase and the group text messages Ms. Cruz had sent planning a longer itinerary suggested he had cut his trip short. NBC reported separately that Mr. Cruz had rebooked his return ticket on Thursday morning.

Related: Ted Cruz flies to Cancun as millions of Texans freeze in the dark