He has no idea what's going on around him, King says about Cruz. | AP Photos King: Cruz shows 'smug arrogance'

Rep. Peter King said Wednesday that Sen. Ted Cruz showed why he has few friends in Congress with comments about him, which he said demonstrated his “smug arrogance.”

“This is what happens when guys like Ted Cruz make themselves the center of their own universe,” the New York Republican told POLITICO in a phone interview. “They have no idea what’s going on around them.”


Cruz, a Texas Republican who many call one of the leaders of the tea party, responded to King’s criticisms of him by saying he had just recently heard about the congressman.

“I don’t know Mr. King,” Cruz said on CNN on Tuesday evening. “I’ve never met him. To be honest, I don’t think I had ever heard of him until he started getting on television attacking me.”

( Also on POLITICO: Cruz says he'd never heard of King)

King has been repeatedly slammed the senator, accusing him of being a “fraud” and harming the country by leading the push for the government shutdown in October 2013.

On Wednesday, King said that he takes some pity on Cruz, painting him as living in “his own little bubble” without many allies in Congress.

“Actually, I feel sorry for him,” he said. “Maybe, if he had a taken the time to listen to me over the years, maybe he’d be a little smarter than he is and be a little less ignorant and maybe he’d have a few more friends. He likes to live in his own little bubble. In all seriousness, what I’ve heard about Cruz is that he knows himself and nobody else, basically.”

King told POLITICO that he ran into Cruz at Washington, D.C.’s Capitol Grille two or three months ago, and that the two lawmakers exchanged a quick greeting.

“I wouldn’t show the smug arrogance of saying I don’t know who the guy is,” King said of Cruz’s comments about him. “But that’s just his style.”

The congressman added that Cruz’s willful ignorance of his colleagues makes him a less effective senator. “Whether you like somebody or dislike somebody, you want to know who the players are,” he said.

On Tuesday night, Cruz declined to go after King, saying that he wanted to avoid intra-party bickering.

“He’s welcome to express his opinions, and he is entitled to them,” Cruz said of King. “I think there are far too many politicians in Washington in both parties that spend their time attacking each other rather than focusing on the substance.”