Trump’s midnight phone call with Cruz went off the rails after senator issued dire warning

New audio recordings have revealed Senator Ted Cruz’s private and harsh criticisms of President Trump’s economic policies and Vice President Vance. The nearly ten minutes of audio, recorded during two separate donor meetings last year, show some of the toughest criticisms of the administration by a fellow Republican since Trump and Vance took office just over a year ago.

The most explosive part reveals a tense, late-night phone call between Cruz and Trump about the president’s new tariffs. According to Axios, Cruz told donors that after Trump introduced the tariffs in early April 2025, he and a few other senators asked the president to back down. Cruz says the long conversation, which went past midnight, “did not go well,” noting that the president was “yelling” and “cursing.”

Cruz delivered a serious warning to the president about potential economic problems. He told donors he had warned Trump: “Mr. President, if we get to November of [2026] and people’s 401(k)s are down 30% and prices are up 10–20% at the supermarket, we’re going to go into Election Day, face a bloodbath.” 

Cruz positions himself as traditional Republican ahead of possible 2028 run

Cruz predicted that if the economy failed, the president would lose control of Congress, adding, “You’re going to lose the House, you’re going to lose the Senate, you’re going to spend the next two years being impeached every single week.”

According to Cruz, Trump was clearly unhappy with this prediction. Cruz recalled, “Trump was in a bad mood,” saying, “I’ve been in conversations where he was very happy. This was not one of them.” The president’s reply to Cruz’s warning was a short, sharp, “F— you, Ted.”

This fight shows how Cruz is positioning himself as a traditional free trade, pro-interventionist Republican as he looks ahead to a possible 2028 primary run. The senator made fun of the administration’s positive branding of the tariffs, joking that when someone mentioned “Liberation Day,” he told his staff, “I’ve told my team if anyone uses those words, they will be terminated on the spot. That is not language we use.”

Cruz spends much time in the recordings targeting Vice President Vance, linking him directly to conservative podcaster Tucker Carlson. The tensions over foreign policy come as Trump’s latest sanctions decision affects the UK, adding to international concerns about the administration’s approach. Cruz insists that Vance is Carlson’s “protégé,” stating, “Tucker created JD. JD is Tucker’s protégé, and they are one and the same.”

The senator claimed that Vance and Carlson were behind key personnel decisions, including the removal of former national security adviser Mike Waltz. Cruz claims Waltz was removed because he “supported being vigorous against Iran and bombing Iran, and Tucker and JD took Mike out.” 

Cruz also claims the duo pushed for Army veteran Daniel Davis, whom Cruz calls “a guy who viciously hates Israel,” to get a top national intelligence position. Cruz says he helped quickly remove Davis from that role.

A spokesperson for Cruz released a statement trying to downplay the conflict. The statement said the senator is “the president’s greatest ally in the Senate and battles every day in the trenches to advance his agenda,” explaining that these battles sometimes include fights over “staffers who try to enter the administration despite disagreeing with the president and seeking to undermine his foreign policy.”

Trump’s recent confrontations extend beyond Cruz, as his threatening message to France’s president demonstrates his aggressive diplomatic style. Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson denied any involvement in the personnel changes, telling reporters he “didn’t have anything to do” with either the removal of Waltz or the hiring of Davis.