Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) received a swift fact check after he suggested TV networks stopped covering the coronavirus pandemic immediately following the defeat of President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
Cruz on Tuesday appeared to push the bogus right-wing narrative that networks before last week were only covering the public health crisis to hammer Trump, retweeting GOP rapid response director Steve Guest’s dishonest claim that CNN had stopped showing its COVID-19 tracker on screen.
“Miraculous,” wrote Cruz. “COVID cured, the very instant the networks called the race for Biden.”
CNN personalities rebuked Cruz for the post.
Jake Tapper, host of “The Lead,” noted “we continue to cover this horrible crisis that our public officials are not doing enough to stop.”
CNN’s fact-checking reporter Daniel Dale called out Cruz’s “entirely baseless” claim by sharing screenshots of the tracker “during four separate hours of coverage” on Monday, “even as we tracked the election too.”
“What you’re tweeting is false,” added Oliver Darcy, CNN’s senior media reporter.
Cruz, who has called President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory into question, has not deleted his misleading post.
It came as Texas became the first state to top 1 million coronavirus cases.
The contagion has now infected at least 10.2 million people nationwide and killed almost 240,000 Americans.
Other critics on Twitter condemned Cruz for his claim:
- Here’s the latest science on COVID antibodies.
- How does the coronavirus spread differently than the flu?
- What does the new CDC definition of a COVID-19 “close contact” mean for you?
- Is it safe to see grandparents for the holidays?
- Therapists predict how this year will shape our mental health.