Republican Sen. Ted Cruz’s communications director has resigned her role in the wake of a violent riot by pro-Trump agitators last week. “I’m grateful to Senator Cruz for the opportunity and wish him and his first-rate staff nothing but the best,” Lauren Blair Bianchi said in a statement to Punchbowl News on Monday. Bianchi had served as communications director for the Texas senator since 2019. Cruz has been widely criticized for being one of the most ardent supporters of President Trump’s delusional effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Days before the riot, he told a rally crowd in Georgia: “We won’t go quietly into the night. We will defend liberty.” Senate Democrats and some Texas lawmakers have called for his resignation but Cruz continues to insist he had no role in inciting the insurrection.