Ted Cruz says he does not want position as Supreme Court justice, but wants to remain in Senate

Conservative Sen. Ted Cruz was one of the individuals President Trump recently announced is on the list of people he will consider nominating to the Supreme Court, but the Texas senator says he is not interested in the position.

"Do you want the job?" Maria Bartiromo asked Cruz during an interview on the Fox News program "Sunday Morning Futures."

"You know I don't," Cruz responded. "It is deeply honoring, it's humbling to be included in the list. I'm grateful that the president has that confidence in me," he said, adding that such a position is "not the desire of my heart."

"I want to be in the political fight. I want to be fighting to nominate and confirm, three, four, five principled constitutionalist justices," Cruz said. "I want to stay fighting right where I am in the U.S. Senate."

Cruz, who lost to Donald Trump in his bid to become the 2016 Republican presidential nominee, said in a Wednesday statement: "In the Senate, I have been blessed to lead the fight to preserve our constitutional liberties –every day, to defend the rights of 29 million Texans – and I look forward to continuing to do so for many years to come."

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, who was also among those the president announced is on the list of people he could possibly nominate, swiftly shot down the idea in a Wednesday statement.

"I appreciate the President’s confidence in listing me as a potential Supreme Court nominee," Hawley wrote. "But as I told the President, Missourians elected me to fight for them in the Senate, and I have no interest in the high court. I look forward to confirming constitutional conservatives."