The claim: Image shows Texas Senator Ted Cruz using Twitter template for mass shootings
In the wake of the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, some online are highlighting Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s alleged response to the mass shootings
An Instagram post shared on may 27 includes an image that purports to show nine tweets from Cruz’s personal account following the recent mass shootings. The message of each tweet is identical, only the location of the shot in the text changing.
“These mass shootings are happening so much that Ted Cruz really has a role model ready to tweet whenever they happen,” the post’s caption read.
One such tweet reads:
“Heidi and I fervently raise in prayer the children and families of the horrific shooting in Newtown. We are in close contact with local authorities, but specific details are still being worked out. heroic orders and first responders for doing so quickly.”
This same message is allegedly recycled for shootings that occurred in Orlando, Las Vegas, Parkland, Pittsburgh, Virginia Beach, El Paso, Rochester and Indianapolis.
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The post generated more than 600 likes in less than three days. Similar messages have spread widely on Facebook and Twitter.
But the message’s alleged tweets are digitally manipulated to look like the Republican senator shared identical messages during each shoot. There is no evidence that these tweets exist on any of Cruz’s Twitter accounts.
USA TODAY has reached out to social media users who shared the claim for comment.
The tweets in the post are fabricated
The tweets in the social media posts are digitally edited versions of a tweet Cruz shared on May 24 in response to Uvalde’s shooting. The location of the shooting in the tweet and the date and time have been edited on the others to make it look like Cruz has a programmed response to the mass shootings.
Tweets displayed in social media posts do not exist on Cruz’s personal Where official accounts, in any archives or on a ProPublica database which follows his deleted tweets.
USA TODAY and others independent fact-checking The organizations also found no evidence that Cruz used language identical to his May 24 tweet in his past responses to mass shootings.
For example, in response to fatal shooting in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York that left 10 dead, Cruz wrote in a May 16 tweet that the killer “must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law” and that he is “grateful that there are heroes like retired security guard Aaron Salter, Jr., who fought back and lost his life defending those around him.”
Fact check:Comparison of US school shootings, other countries use old data
And after a shooting in a synagogue in Pittsburgh on October 27, 2018, Cruz said in a tweet that he and his wife were “praying for the victims and their families, the entire Jewish community of Pittsburgh, and our brave members of law enforcement.”
Cruz has not tweeted from his personal or official account in response to the mass shootings in Indianapolis, Rochester, Virginia Beach and Parkland, according to the Associated Press.
Our opinion: Modified
Based on our research, we rate ALTERED which claims to show Cruz using a Twitter pattern for the mass shootings. The tweets in the image are manipulated versions of a May 24 tweet that Cruz shared in response to the Uvalde shooting. The manipulated tweets do not end up on any of Cruz’s Twitter accounts.
Our fact-checking sources:
- Reuters, May 27, Fact check – Republican Senator Ted Cruz did not tweet identical messages following several mass shootings in the United States
- Ted Cruz, accessed May 30, Twitter profile
- USA TODAY, May 29 Slow police response may have delayed treatment for students injured in Texas elementary school massacre: live updates
- USA TODAY, May 27 Stunning revelations about Texas school shooting fill intense Friday press conference
- Associated Press, May 27, Ted Cruz didn’t post identical tweets after 12 mass shootings
- Ted Cruz, May 24 Tweeter
- ProPublica, accessed May 30 Deleted tweets from Ted Cruz, R-Texas
- Ted Cruz, May 16 Tweeter
- USA TODAY, May 16 Buffalo suspect shooter kicked out of Tops store the night before the rampage: What we know about the shootings
- Ted Cruz, October 27, 2018, Tweeter
- USA TODAY, October 27, 2018, Suspect charged with 29 counts in ‘horrific’ Pittsburgh synagogue shooting
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