Ben Sasse accidentally dumped Dr. Pepper on Ted Cruz during a Senate hearing - and a comical Twitter feud ensued

• Sen. Ben Sasse accidentally spilled Dr. Pepper on Sen. Ted Cruz during a hearing.
• He and Cruz subsequently exchanged memes online referencing jokes about Cruz being the Zodiac killer and his father assassinating JFK.

Sen. Ben Sasse accidentally spilled Dr. Pepper on Sen. Ted Cruz on Wednesday, resulting in an exchange between the social media accounts of the two United States senators.

During a tense moment of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Sasse spilled his carbonated soft drink on the Texas senator.

Sasse - a prolific Twitter user - made a joke about his spillage, referencing President Donald Trump's unfounded claim that Cruz's father may have been involved in the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy. 

Cruz responded with a cipher from the so-called Zodiac killer, a serial killer who murdered several people in Northern California in the 1960s and 70s whom authorities were never able to track down.

A popular but somewhat aging joke online is a fake conspiracy theory that Cruz is secretly the Zodiac killer, a claim that his wife has vehemently denied.