Did U.S. Senator Ted Cruz say, "Let's stop attacking pedophiles" at a congressional hearing? Yes, he did, but his spokesperson described that as a gaffe, "a verbal slip", and clarified that the senator opposed such crimes. The overall context of Cruz's remarks did not contradict his press office's clarification.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on February 3, 2026. The caption read:
TED CRUZ: 'Let's stop attacking pedophiles.'
The post included a video of U.S. Senator Ted Cruz. In it, he was seen saying:
...tragically, this pattern keeps on happening now. Senator Booker also said, we should have bipartisan agreement. I think that's a great idea. We should have bipartisan agreement. How about we all come together and say, 'Let's stop murders'? How about we all come together and say, 'Let's stop rapes'? How about we all come together and say, 'Let's stop attacking pedophiles'?
This is what the attached clip looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at x.com/realstewpeters)
The video from the post on X was authentic (archived here). It was a fragment from the September 30, 2025, congressional hearing (archived here) whose full recording is available on C-SPAN. The Senate Judiciary Committee hosted it, and, according to the file's description, the topic being discussed was "the Trump administration's handling of crime in big cities".
The fragment reused on social media begins at the 1:50:36 mark in the original file.
While Cruz didn't correct himself for the duration of that speech, the overall context of his words didn't suggest that he attempted to advocate against punishing sex abusers. For example, his words about a "tragic pattern" came after he had named victims of gun violence. What followed the quote examined in this article was his reference to crime statistics, in which Cruz discussed a decline in sex abuse crimes, among other things.
When the clip of Cruz saying "let's stop attacking pedophiles" went viral on social media following the hearing, the senator's spokesperson told Huffington Post (archived here) and the Houston Chronicle (archived here) that Cruz's words were "a verbal slip". The spokesperson added that Cruz was "rattling off a series of crimes we should unite in opposing, started a sentence about opposing pedophilia, and added a stray word while talking it out."
