Trent Lott: I’d have thrown out Cruz for ‘liar’ speech

Trent Lott (R-Miss.) says he would take a hard line with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) if he was still running the Senate.

Cruz, a presidential candidate, assailed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in a floor speech last year, accusing him of lying about a deal related to the Export-Import Bank.

{mosads}Lott, who served as Senate majority leader in 2002, suggested Cruz’s speech was beyond the pale.

“Having been majority leader, I’ve never had someone stand on the Senate floor and call me a liar,” Lott said in an interview with The Hill’s Molly K. Hooper. “In fact, if I had been in the Senate at that time I would have moved to have him removed from the Senate chamber physically.” 

Lott, who is now co-chair of the public policy practice at Squire Patton Boggs, talks 2016 politics and his preferred candidate, Ohio. Gov John Kasich (R), in the video above.