• On Thursday, Ted Cruz’s departure from Cancún was reported to have been earlier than planned.
• On Wednesday, Cruz flew to Cancún, originally intended to stay until Saturday.
• The senator flew home, facing criticism that he had left Texas in a deadly winter storm.

GOP Sen. Ted Cruz was in Cancun, Mexico, for under 24 hours before he changed his original plan to stay in the resort city until Saturday, and, according to many reports, he rushed back to Texas.

Cruz faced a critical assault on leaving Texas on Wednesday as the state struggled with a deadly winter storm that saw millions lose power. Early on Thursday morning, he reportedly contacted United Airlines and changed his flight from Saturday afternoon to Thursday afternoon. This development was first reported by Skift reporter Edward Russell, citing an unidentified airline source, but was also confirmed separately by NBC reporter Peter Alexander.

Insider contacted Cruz’s office for clarification as to whether the Texas Republican changed his original itinerary and flew home early as a result of the backlash torrent he faced in leaving the country. Cruz’s press secretary responded with a widely circulated statement from the senator about the trip. The Statement of the Senator did not specify whether he had always planned to return on Thursday or whether Cruz had decided to change his flight after he arrived in Cancun.

Cruz said in his statement that he had gone to Cancun at the behest of his daughters who had been out of school as a result of the winter storm.

“This has been an infuriating week for Texas,” he said. “With school canceled for the week, our girls asked to take a trip with friends. Wanting to be a good dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying back this afternoon.”

As he returned to Texas on Thursday, Cruz told reporters at Cancun Airport that his daughters had asked him on Wednesday if they could take a trip to Cancun with friends. Cruz said he agreed with his wife, and he decided to accompany them.

“I flew down with them last night, dropped them off here, and now I’m headed back to Texas,” Cruz said, adding that “what’s happening in Texas is unacceptable.”

With widespread skepticism and mockery, the Texas senator’s justification for the trip has been met, and critics accuse him of throwing his daughters under the bus for the bad optics of taking a vacation with his state in crisis.

“Ted Cruz let Trump call his wife ugly and say his dad killed JFK, with no repercussions. Now he blames daughters for his abandonment of Texans during a deadly crisis,” tweeted Anthony Scaramucci, who was briefly White House communications director in the Trump administration. “Ted, you have no dignity, you are a disgrace and you will never be President, let alone Senator for much longer.”