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Ted Cruz did NOT tweet he'll believe in climate change 'when Texas freezes over', hoax busted amid Cancun row

While Ted Cruz doesn't believe in man-made climate change, this particular tweet was falsely attributed to him

There might be a day that Senator Ted Cruz can leave behind his Cancun fiasco, but so far the Texas Senator is weathering criticism from all fronts for his trip to Mexico with his family as millions in his home state faced a deadly winter storm amid the state's power grid failing, leaving many without electricity. Now, there is also a fake tweet attributed to Cruz regarding climate change.

A screenshot of what is purportedly a Cruz tweet from September 8, 2016, reading, "I'll believe in climate change when Texas freezes over," has gone viral as Cruz continues to face criticism for his trip. While it is true that Cruz rejects the scientific consensus on climate change -- even once calling climate activists "global warming alarmists" and "the equivalent of the flat-earthers," Cruz did not actually tweet the above statement.

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What did Ted Cruz actually tweet?

PolitiFact has verified that the tweet is fake and that it does not appear on any of Cruz's accounts. The tweet was also not found in ProPublica's Politwoops, a database of tweets deleted by public officials and political candidates. CNN also reports that Google does not show any indication that Cruz ever tweeted such a statement.

While the above statement may be fake, Cruz has tweeted controversial statements that are related to climate change. In August 2020, when the California governor's office urged residents to conserve energy during a heatwave as the state experienced power blackouts Cruz tweeted, "California is now unable to perform even basic functions of civilization, like having reliable electricity. Biden/Harris/AOC want to make CA’s failed energy policy the standard nationwide. Hope you don’t like air conditioning!"

Cruz addressed the gaffe in a recent tweet in which he acknowledged that he had no defense. He tweeted, "I got no defense. [Man shrugging emoji] A blizzard strikes Texas & our state shuts down. Not good. Stay safe!"

What is Ted Cruz's stance on climate change?

In a 2014 interview with CNN, Cruz said the existence of global warming was not supported by data, which was noted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center's FactCheck as being "misleading" and that "Cruz cherry-picks data to arrive at a spurious conclusion." 

When former President Donald Trump indicated his interest in withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, Cruz supported the decision. Earlier this year, Cruz criticized President Joe Biden signing an executive order for the country rejoining the Paris Agreement, falsely tweeting, "By rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, President Biden indicates he’s more interested in the views of the citizens of Paris than in the jobs of the citizens of Pittsburgh. This agreement will do little to affect the climate and will harm the livelihoods of Americans."

When Cruz was running against Beto O'Rourke for the Senate seat in 2018, O'Rourke disagreed with Cruz saying that man-made climate change "is a fact," while Cruz was unconvinced that humans play a role in climate change. The LCV rates Cruz with a lifetime environmental score of three percent, with the score being zero percent for the year 2020.