Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, revealed dramatic new details Wednesday about the covert Jan. 3 mission targeting Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, describing U.S. troops who continued fighting after being shot and later asking to keep the bullets and shrapnel pulled from their bodies.

In a new “Verdict with Ted Cruz” podcast episode, Cruz detailed a trip with fellow Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and War Secretary Pete Hegseth to a San Antonio hospital to visit three of the seven soldiers wounded during Operation Absolute Resolve.

Cruz said American troops were “vastly outnumbered,” describing Cuban military members, tasked with guarding Maduro, opening fire on U.S. soldiers.

“It is an incredible testament to the precision and effectiveness of our military that not a single soldier on the American side was killed,” Cruz said. “There was a very large number of Cuban forces defending Maduro who were killed in that firefight.”

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The first soldier the politicians visited helped plan the “entire raid” and was leading one of the helicopters when he was shot in the leg, according to Cruz.

“Even in the midst of being shot in the leg, [he] continued,” Cruz said. “He did not step back from the fight, and he was critical, in terms of his location, protecting his fellow soldiers.”

During a discussion with the soldier, Cruz said Hegseth extended an offer for anything the soldier needed.

“[The soldier] said, ‘Well, actually, there is something you could do,’ and Pete says ‘what?’” Cruz said. “[The soldier] says, ‘I’d really like the bullet,’ the bullet that went into his leg.”

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Cruz explained the hospital’s medical director previously told the soldier the hospital could not hand it over to him without a waiver.

“Pete, to his credit, said, ‘The waiver is granted, you can have the bullet,’” Cruz said. “That soldier was beaming. He was thrilled to have the bullet.”

The second soldier the group met with had also been shot and cut by a piece of shrapnel, causing a gash running the entire length of his arm.

“He had the exact same request,” Cruz said. “He said, ‘I’d really like the shrapnel.’ They had the piece of metal that had cut his arm open, and again, the hospital said, ‘We have it, but we’re not allowed to give it to him without the waiver.’”

Hegseth also signed off on the second soldier’s request, according to Cruz.

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“Both of those, I assume that they’re going to frame it or otherwise keep it as just a memento to the injury, the Purple Heart that they earned fighting for their country, but also being a part of profoundly impacting history,” Cruz said.

While the names and ages of the wounded soldiers, who are now all in good condition, have not yet been publicly released, Cruz said the first soldier was a bit older than the other two, who he described as “young guys.”

“If you saw them walking down the street, you wouldn’t do a double take,” he said. “The first guy kind of looked a little like Captain America, [and] the other two looked like they were fit … but the skill that you know they have, the heroism you know they have — if you just saw them on the street, you wouldn’t immediately know that.

“With all three of the soldiers, I took an opportunity to tell them, ‘Look, you were part of history. You were part of history in a way, without exaggeration, that changed the entire Western hemisphere. What you did was profoundly important … and I took the chance on behalf of Texans and Americans just to say, ’Thank you. Thank you for your bravery.’”

Cruz added the first soldier, who was shot in the leg, had some friendly banter with the Pentagon chief.

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“Hegseth asked him, ‘How are you feeling?’ And he said, ‘I’m ready to go again,’” Cruz said. “I said, ‘Great, can you do Saturday?’ And he said, ‘Well, can we hold off till Monday?’ So, that kind of gives you a sense of the spirit [the soldiers had].”

Cruz’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

A cat started a fire that caused severe damage to a kitchen in Dallas County, Texas, this week after it was able to turn on the stove, officials said.

The Garland Fire Department responded to the fire Wednesday and immediately extinguished the blaze, the department said in a release. 

Then investigators found home surveillance video that showed a cat jumping up onto the stove, which had items on it, and turned on the stove, igniting the blaze. 

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In the video, the cat quickly leaps off the stove after turning on a burner, which ignited the items sitting on top.

A picture of the kitchen after the fire showed the fire had spread to other appliances, the kitchen door and the ceiling before firefighters were able to put it out.

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There was no damage to the rest of the home. 

The department reminded residents to keep combustible items like paper towels or plastic containers off stovetops, to always turn off burners and ovens, to never leave cooking unattended and to keep the area clutter-free.

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It also suggested using safety stove knob covers. 

“Even when a stove or cooktop is not actively in use, residual heat or accidental activation can quickly ignite nearby combustible items. A few seconds of prevention can stop a fire from starting,” the department said in a release.  

Texas hospitals accumulated more than $1 billion in healthcare costs for illegal immigrants during fiscal year 2025, the first year the state began tracking the figures.

The data, compiled by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) and obtained by Texas Scorecard, shows hospitals logged 313,742 visits linked to individuals not legally present, with total costs reaching $1.05 billion by the end of the fiscal year.

Texas’ fiscal year runs from Sept. 1 through Aug. 31, but hospitals were only required to begin reporting in November. Based on the reported data, costs averaged about $105 million per month, meaning the true annual total could be significantly higher.

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To put the figures into perspective, the reported hospital costs approach about 1% of the state’s tax-funded resources.

The figures were collected under an executive order signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in August 2024 that mandated the agency track the number of “individuals not lawfully present” in the U.S. who use Texas public hospitals. Abbott’s executive order directed Texas hospitals to provide HHSC with quarterly breakdowns on patients not lawfully present in the U.S., including the number of inpatient discharges, emergency department visits and the cost of care provided to these patients.

Texas, a border state, reported some of the highest crossing numbers ever recorded under the Biden administration, putting immense pressure on its healthcare system, Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott’s press secretary, told Fox News Digital previously.

The largest share of expenses came from inpatient discharges for non-Medicaid and non-CHIP patients, totaling $565.4 million across 40,947 discharges, according to the report. CHIP is the Children’s Health Insurance Program, a federal-state program that provides low-cost health coverage for children in families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid.

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Emergency department visits for non-Medicaid and non-CHIP patients added another $205.5 million in costs, according to the report.

Patients enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP accounted for significant costs as well, including $255.3 million tied to inpatient discharges and $24.3 million in emergency department visits.

For fiscal year 2025, hospitals were initially required to submit data only for November 2024, when they reported 30,743 visits costing more than $102 million, according to the state.

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Subsequent reporting showed continued high costs. From December 2024 through February 2025, hospitals reported 149,619 visits totaling $330.8 million.

Between March and May 2025, reported costs reached $319.3 million, followed by $298.3 million from June through August 2025.