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"In 2024, will you certify the election results? Do you plan to object, or, will you accept the results regardless of who wins the election?"
Instead of responding to the "yes" or "no" question regarding the outcome of the likely head-to-head between Democratic President Joe Biden and former Republican President Donald Trump, Cruz deflected, insisting that Collins was asking a "ridiculous question."
He countered, "You asked a Democrat that?"
Collins acknowledged the Democrats' voicing opposition to Trump defeating Hillary Clinton in 2016 but stressed, "You cannot compare the two situations."
She asked, "Have you ever had a sitting President who refused to facilitate the peaceful transition of power, refuse to acknowledge that his successor won the presidency?"
The Senator replied, “We did have a peaceful transfer of power. I was there on Jan 20."
Collins countered, "Barely," referring to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol incited by Trump after he repeatedly made false claims about a rigged election.
You can watch a video of the heated interview Collins posted on X (formerly Twitter) here.
During the back and forth, Collins said the discussion on voter fraud wasn't a game.
Cruz disagreed and said "It is a game. You always ask Republicans that."
The CNN host reminded him that all the recent scrutiny towards Republicans was due to his party trying to block the transition of power.
"You have to acknowledge that," she said, adding:
"We've never seen it on a scale of what happened in 2020. We've never seen the President refuse. He wouldn't even let Biden get classified briefings at the beginning."
Collins tried again to get a concrete answer from Cruz if he would accept the results of a free and fair election regardless of who won.
"If the Democrats win I will accept," said Cruz but asserted that he wasn't going to "ignore fraud" which he maintained there was in 2020.
Collins fired back, "No there wasn't, and you still objected."
When Cruz challenged her to produce factual evidence about a lack of any swindling in the election, Collins mentioned the three-hand recounts in Georgia verifying the election results and the statement from the director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) verifying 2020 was the safest and most legitimate election in US history.
"There was no voter fraud that would have changed the outcome of the election and you know that, Senator," said Collins.
Cruz remained evasive and tried to derail from the topic by bringing up allegations of voter fraud in the 1876 presidential election between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden as an example of fraudulent precedence in the U.S.
@HarrisPeskin/X
This prompted Collins to get the interview back on track and remarked:
“Republicans have twisted themselves in knots, it’s just a yes-or-no question."
Cruz said, “I’m not twisting myself,” adding:
“I’m answering your question. You just don’t like my answer.”
Collins, once again, asked:
“So what’s your answer, is it yes or is it no."
Cruz ignored the question he was never going to respond to.
He resumed his take on how Congress responded to the 1876 presidential election and other ramblings until Collins ended the interview.
Social media users praised Collins' handling of the Senator throughout the segment.
Seriously, this shouldn't be a difficult question to answer.