Cruz slams Swalwell and Omar after the Democrats accuse the Senator of ‘defending Nazis’

Aaron Rupar, an activist journalist at Vox, tweeted a 27-second clip of a conversation between Attorney General Merrick Garland and Cruz from a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday where Cruz was interrogating Garland about the Department of Justice’s labeling disgruntled parents at school board meetings “domestic terrorists.”

During the specific clip, Cruz was grilling Garland over the First Amendment rights of parents.

Rupar posted that Cruz was defending Nazi salutes.

Rupar’s tweet was retweeted by Omar who claimed that Cruz was "...defending Nazis."

Swalwell echoed the same.

In response to Rupar’s post Cruz said. "Lefty journos are either (1) dishonest or (2) not very bright (or both)," "The parent was doing the Nazi salute because he was calling the authoritarian school board Nazis—evil, bad & abusive. And yes, calling someone a Nazi is very much protected by the First Amendment."

Cruz slammed Omar on Twitter and said, "You are frequently a liar (and often spewing anti-Semitism). But here, you’re lie is exactly 180 degrees false. I was defending the right of citizens to denounce authoritarian policies. In other words, to OPPOSE Nazis (or petty tyrants), not to support them."

Cruz similarly called out Swalwell, and tore into the scandal plagued Congressman saying, "You are frequently a liar (when you’re not sleeping with Chinese spies). But here, you’re lie is exactly 180 degrees false. I was defending the right of citizens to denounce authoritarian policies. In other words, to OPPOSE Nazis (or petty tyrants), not to support them."

In the original uncut clip, Cruz told Garland that the number of incidents at school board events described by the National School Board Association (NSBA) was twenty and that fifteen of those, including the ones with insults and Nazi salutes, were non-violent.

Cruz said that the DOJ should not have used FBI resources to investigate alleged incidents that are protected by the First Amendment.

The NSBA recently apologized for and withdrew the letter they wrote to the DOJ comparing parents protesting radical curriculum choices and compromising safety of students. The agency said there was "...no justification for some of the language."

Garland has still refused to change his position, which was based on the NSBA letter which prompted the label and the investigation, that violence from parents at school board meetings should be investigated by the FBI.

Sen. Dick Durbin, (D-IL), asked if Garland had "second thoughts" about his decision after NSBA’s apology. Garland acknowledged that NSBA's original letter prompted the investigation and said, "The letter that was subsequently sent does not change the association’s concern of violence or threats of violence. It alters some of the language in the letter … that we did not rely on and is not contained in my own memorandum."

Senator Tom Cotton (R-AK) said Garland "…should resign in disgrace" over the memo.