Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Wednesday slammed Federal Trade Commission nominee Alvaro Bedoya as a ''left-wing activist, a provocateur, a bomb-thrower, and an extremist'' in reference to his views on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and critical race theory, according to Breitbart.
''I want to take a minute to explore your views,'' Cruz said at a hearing on Bedoya's nomination before the Senate Commerce Committee. ''I'm not talking about the things you say when you're wearing a suit and tie, talking about Fourth Amendment violations, I'm talking about what you angrily tweet out to the world.''
Cruz then referred to two tweets Bedoya wrote earlier this year.
''It is time to call ICE what it is: an out-of-control domestic surveillance agency that peers into all of our lives,'' Bedoya wrote on Feb. 26.
''Maryland police have no business working with ICE. (x5),'' an April 10 tweet read.
''How do you explain these tweets?'' Cruz asked, ''Are you with the more radical members of the squad in the House, and are you an advocate of abolishing ICE?''
Bedoya replied, ''I am not, Senator. That last message was rhetoric. ... I have occasionally used rhetoric, sir.''
Cruz then noted that Bedyoa retweeted MSNBC host Joy Reid's post calling former President Donald Trump a ''white supremacist.''
''I don't recall sharing that. I don't believe the prior administration was a white supremacist administration,'' Bedoya responded.
Cruz then shared a retweet from Bedoya of John B. King affirming the teaching of CRT in schools.
Bedoya responded that he believed that ''history should be taught'' but disagreed with the claim that ''all white people are racist.'' He went on to say that he hadn't ''given great thought to critical race theory before this hearing.''
Bedoya serves as founding director of the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law. In academic work, he aligned himself ideologically to Lina Khan, President Joe Biden's FTC chair nominee, CNBC reported.
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