After days of a historic winter storm hitting Texas, a viral screenshot circulating on social media alleged to shows a 2016 tweet by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz reading: “I’ll believe in climate change when Texas freezes over.” There is, however, no evidence Cruz ever tweeted this or made such a statement.
The claim gained traction on social media after Cruz faced a storm of criticism on Feb. 18 after leaving his home state of Texas in the grip of the deadly deep freeze for a family holiday jaunt to the Mexican resort of Cancun ( here ).
The screenshot of the tweet appears to have been sent from the account @tedcruz and carries the timestamp Sept. 8, 2016 5:44 PM. It can be seen on Twitter ( here ), Facebook ( here , here ) and Instagram ( here , here ).
Reuters found no record of this purported tweet in 2016. The tweet is not visible on Twitter search when looking for tweets sent around Sept. 8, 2016 ( bit.ly/3sgxv2N ). Politwoops, a project by ProPublica that archives deleted tweets from politicians also shows no record of the alleged tweet, indicating it was likely fabricated recently ( here ).
A search of the words “climate change” in his timeline brought up three tweets, none of which match this quote ( bit.ly/3s6NGzx ).
Reuters also revised Cruz’s other Twitter account, @SenTedCruz, and found no such tweet ( bit.ly/3k3zCnD , bit.ly/2Zy1TJG ).
The earliest iteration of the quote Reuters could find was posted on Twitter on Feb. 16, 2021 at 7:36 ET, with no attribution to Cruz. A user ( here ) tweeted: “I swear i’ve heard someone say i’ll believe in climate change when texas freezes over.. well i’m in texas. It’s Frozen.”
In the past, Cruz has argued that scientific evidence doesn’t support global warming ( here , here , here , here ).
Some memes circulating on social media with the alleged quote carry a label of “satire” (see bottom right-hand corner here ), further indicating the tweet is not authentic.
Ted Cruz’s office did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.
VERDICT
False. Tweet by Ted Cruz saying “I’ll believe in climate change when Texas freezes over” appears to be fabricated.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts here .
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