Ted Cruz's Epic Freudian Slip About 'Pedophiles' During Senate Speech Resurfaces—And Oof

Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz was widely mocked for an October video that resurfaced and showed him offering some bipartisan advice during a Senate hearing, only for his advice to go completely off the rails after an awkward "verbal slip" that made him look as if he was defending "pedophiles."

That's really not the best look considering what we know from the latest release of documents related to the Epstein files, which contain information about some of President Donald Trump's former friend and associate Jeffrey Epstein's most high-profile clients and enablers. The late disgraced financier was a convicted pedophile and sex trafficker.

In the video, Cruz, in response to prior remarks from New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker, said:

“I think that’s a great idea—we should have bipartisan agreement. How about we all come together and say, ‘Let’s stop murders.’ How about we all come together and say, ‘Let’s stop rape.’"

"How about we all come together and say, ‘Let’s stop attacking pedophiles.’”

You can hear what Cruz said in the video below.

That Freudian slip was still a hot mess, especially now.

Just days ago, the Justice Department released about 3 million new documents collected as part of its years' long investigation into Epstein.

The DOJ said this release would be the final tranche of Epstein-related files required under the law, but the disclosures have instead sparked renewed outrage over the government’s failure to deliver transparency or accountability for Epstein’s many survivors.

Victims and their advocates have condemned the documents for extensive and careless redactions, including the blacking out of statements survivors themselves gave to the FBI.

A CNN review found that several redactions appeared to conceal the identities of people who allegedly helped Epstein connect with women, including suspected co-conspirators in a long-awaited draft indictment from the early 2000s.

The latest documents name several high-profile men who interacted with Epstein, including Trump, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Prince Andrew. All have denied wrongdoing and have never been charged. Survivors say the files nonetheless appear to shield those who enabled Epstein’s abuse and others named in victim statements that were fully redacted.

In total, the most recent release from the Justice Department includes more than 5,300 documents containing upwards of 38,000 mentions of Donald Trump, his wife, his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, and related terms. Earlier releases of the Epstein-related records, made public late last year, contained an additional 130 files with references tied to Trump.