While the people of Texas struggled with the historic flood that killed more than 110 people, the Senator of this state, Ted Cruz, was caught traveling in Greece, sparking a wave of harshly criticizing him.
Mr. Ted Cruz officially took office as a Senator of Texas from 2013 – Photo: Reuters
While Texas struggled with a deadly flash flood over the weekend, Senator Ted Cruz of this state was criticized for still traveling in Greece in the disaster.
Origin of information
Rumors spread after a photo shared on social networks showed that Mr. Cruz appeared at Parthenon temple in Athens (Greece) on July 5, just one day after the flood that killed more than 110 people.
The photo account confirmed that the picture was taken at 6pm on 5-7 hours Athens (ie 10am in the Texas time), coinciding with the time when the Kerr County officials confirmed the 27 deaths and dozens of missing people for floods.
After pursuing the image source and confirming the previous appearance, many people believe that the photo is real, without editing.
Mr. Cruz (white shirt, between the picture) was seen in Greece on July 5 – Photo: Michael Rocchio
NewspaperHouston ChronicleThen contact the poster and verify the photographer, Mr. Michael Rocchio, a tourist not a Texas, once publicly criticized Mr. Cruz. Mr. Rocchio confirmed his son took the photo at the time mentioned above.
Shortly thereafter, TrangDaily BeastPosted with the title: “Mr. Ted Cruz was spotted on vacation in the middle of the disaster”, with Mr. Cruz’s photo wearing the right outfit that coincided with the spread.
The article quoted an unnamed tourist who saw that Mr. Cruz and his family and bodyguards at Parthenon. When the person shouted: “20 children died in Texas and he still went on vacation?”, Mr. Cruz only “raised his voice and walked”, and his wife seemed uncomfortable.
The post accuses Mr. Cruz traveling in the middle of the state of the disaster that attracts a huge interaction on Facebook, with most users expressing frustration and anger – screenshots
It is true that Mr. Ted Cruz has been on vacation with his family abroad
Before the wave of criticism, the Senator’s office Ted Cruz confirmed that he was on vacation with his family abroad at the right time of the flood, but did not answer whether he would come to Parthenon or not, although the press had twice asked, according to the verification page.SnopesJuly 8.
The spokesperson said: “The Senator is on a trip with his family, scheduled before the flood on July 4. Just a few hours later, he called Texas and President Trump officials to promote the mobilization of federal forces to support search and rescue.”
According to Mr. Cruz’s office, he “worked closely with the local authorities and families with missing people during that time”, and booked tickets to the country immediately after the situation became serious.
Due to the time zone difference, he left Athens on the morning of July 6 and arrived at the Texas evening on the same day, then was present at Kerrville – the city suffered severe damage – on the morning of July 7.
However, his office did not answer the question of when the vacation was planned, nor did he confirm or deny that he stopped by Parthenon on July 5.
Previously, Ted Cruz was heavily criticized for flying to Cancun, Mexico in 2021 while Texas was in a crisis of power outages due to snowstorms.
This incident made the public once again recalled the image of an absent politician when the state faced a deadly disaster.
