WASHINGTON — Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican senator who was the state’s solicitor general for five years, let listeners of his new podcast in on his strategy for arguing cases before the Supreme Court.

“What’s the narrative?” Cruz said. “When the judge or justice went home that night and his or her 5-year-old grandson said, ‘What’d you do at work today, papa?’ I wanted to own that next sentence.”

“If I could own that sentence … you’ve won the case,” Cruz said, explaining that being a trial attorney is all about “framing the narrative.”

And framing the narrative is exactly what Cruz — now the top podcaster in America — is doing daily with “Verdict,” the podcast the Texas Republican records every night after the Senate impeachment trial lets out, sometimes as late as 2:45 a.m.

In it, Cruz presents his defense of President Donald Trump and spotlights allegations of corruption aimed at former Vice President Joe Biden, whose son served on the board of Ukraine’s state-run natural gas company.

It has been downloaded more than 500,000 times so far, according to Cruz’s office.

Monday, “Verdict” topped the iTunes charts, beating out wildly popular shows such as “The Joe Rogan Experience” and The New York Times’ “The Daily.”

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Cruz says it’s an effort to reach people directly.

“Most people don’t have time to turn on C-SPAN and watch 13 hours of impeachment proceedings,” he tweeted on Monday. “The idea of the #Verdict podcast is something easy, that someone can download and listen on the way to work in the morning.”

On Monday’s episode, Cruz settled back into a familiar role — that of a trial attorney, analyzing what Trump’s lawyers needed to do on their first day presenting their case to the Senate.

“Tell a story, lay out an affirmative narrative,” Cruz said.

Trump’s attorneys picked the same narrative that Cruz had suggested on his show: That Trump had the authority — and even the duty — to demand that Ukraine investigate possible corruption by the Bidens. Both Cruz and Trump’s lawyers say Joe Biden had a hand in placing his son, Hunter Biden, on the board of directors of a state-run natural gas company in Ukraine.

In an October interview with ABC news, Hunter Biden said taking the $50,000-a-month-job was “poor judgment on my part” but denied any impropriety. “I joined a board, I served honorably. I did — I focused on corporate governance,” he said, adding that he had one brief exchange with his father about his service on the board but no other discussions with him about his work with the company.

The House impeached Trump for abusing his power when he withheld military aid from Ukraine as he sought to pressure its leaders to announce an investigation into the Bidens’ involvement with the company. Trump also is accused of obstructing Congress during the impeachment inquiry.

Nobody disputes Trump withheld the aide and pushed for an investigation, Cruz said. Now, according to Cruz, the president’s legal team needs to essentially prosecute the Bidens, and provide evidence of corruption.

For subscribers: Ted Cruz is everywhere defending Trump against impeachment

But the podcast also has its lighter moments. Cruz has talked about senators nodding along to arguments they find compelling — or nodding off as the arguments droned out, sometimes well into the night. And he’s talked politics, sharing his thoughts on the Democratic primary (Bernie Sanders’ rise in the polls has Democrats “scared out of their minds,” he says) and dishing about seeing the Democratic senators in the presidential race “pacing” the floor, itching to get back on the campaign trail, just days before the first votes are cast in Iowa.

“Look, they’re dying not to be there,” Cruz said, before telling a story about talking to Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat he called a friend.

“I think I can fairly say that Amy was chomping at the bit to get on a plane,” Cruz said.

ben.wermund@chron.com