WATCH: Beto O'Rourke calls Capitol riot a 'coup attempt'—blames Ted Cruz

Former El Paso mayor Beto O'Rourke took to MSNBC on Wednesday to blame Ted Cruz, who defeated O'Rourke in the 2018 US Senate race in Texas, for the riot on Capitol Hill on Jan 6, which he described as a "coup attempt."

"Unless we hold those responsible accountable for what they did, and yes that means Donald Trump but it also means the junior Senator from the state of Texas," O'Rourke said, further criticizing Cruz for vacationing during the coronavirus pandemic, though Cruz has not advocated for travel restrictions or lockdowns.

"When Ted Cruz helps to incite that sedition, seeks to overturn a lawfully, legitimately, democratically decided election, he is just as culpable for the insurrection, the coup attempt, the deaths including of Capitol police officers who were trying to defend his life and the lives of others who serve in our Capitol," O'Rourke continued.

While initial reports from mainstream media outlets suggested that Capitol Hill police officer Brian Sicknick was murdered by the mob of Trump supporters, such initial reporting has since been retracted. The police officer died one day after the riot under unclear circumstances.

"If these folks are not held accountable, if Ted Cruz is not expelled, he's not forced to resign, then what you have done is you set the precedent that it is ok to try to overturn an election," O'Rourke said of his former opponent.

O'Rourke further compared the Jan 6 riot to the Beer Hall Putsch, Adolf Hitler's first attempt to seize power for the Nazi Party in Germany.

"If you look at the Beer Hall Putsch in Germany in 1923, it was 10 years later that Hitler was Chancellor, we are operating under the big lie right now in America."

O'Rourke also took time on MSNBC to criticize Texas for the state's power grid failures as the state experienced historically cold temperatures.

"There is no incentive or mandate to have on hand additional generating capacity for extreme weather events like this," O'Rourke said, further arguing that such events will become "more likely, more frequent, and more intense, and more deadly as the climate continues to change."

The failure is "thanks to our emissions and our excesses and our inaction," he further suggested.

O'Rourke also blamed the Texan state government because it "literally does not believe that climate change is taking place."

The remarks contradict those made by Texas Congressman Dan Crenshaw, who argued that "a mix of over-subsidized wind energy and under-investment in gas power means we didn’t have enough base load energy for a massive spike in demand."

Crenshaw also suggested that a stronger approach to nuclear energy may have been helpful in preventing the state's power grid from failing.