Ted Cruz lashes out at reporter who asks him to wear a mask and says 'you're welcome to step away if you like'

SENATOR Ted Cruz lashed out at a reporter for asking him to wear a mask during a press conference on Wednesday.

The Texas Republican rebuffed the request from the unidentified journalist,falsely claiming to be following CDC guidelines and told them "you're welcome to step away if you like."

The testy exchange unfolded seconds after Cruz stepped up to the podium to deliver an address to the media inside the Senate yesterday afternoon.

"Would you mind putting a mask on for us?" a male reporter is heard asking as Cruz approaches the microphone.

Visibily recoiling, Cruz hit back: "Uh, yeah, when I'm talking in front of the TV cameras I'm not going to wear a mask.

"And all of us have been immunized, so…" he continued, gesturing to the several GOP Senators standing around him, including John Barrasso of Wyoming.

Seemingly speaking for the other reporters stood in the press pool, the journalist told Cruz that him putting on a mask would "make us feel better."

"You're welcome to step away if you like," Cruz responded with a smirk. "CDC guidance is what we're following."

The Senator later retweeted video of the exchange, writing: "Lefty reporters have lost their minds. #commonsense."

Appearing on Fox News on Thursday morning, Cruz doubled down on that stance.

"At some point it gets a little silly," he told the network of the exchange.

"I’ve got to say, if you turn on the TV on any given day and watch, say the White House press conference with Jen Psaki, she hasn’t worn a mask on any single day and you don’t see petulant reporters throwing a fit and running and screaming out of the room."

Cruz reaffirmed that he found the journalist's protests "particularly absurd" because all Senators have already been vaccinated.

"At some point it just becomes theater, it becomes a virtue signal as people where two, three four masks," he said.

"Listen, I’m not someone who says ‘never wear a mask’, I think you should use common sense precautions but people have gotten pretty crazy about this stuff."

Cruz also revealed the journalist took him up on his offer to leave the room, adding: "He decided he didn’t want to be at the press conference, and that’s fine. He’s welcome to make that choice."

The Republican's claims that he was following CDC guidelines by not wearing a mask after being fully vaccinated are not strictly accurate.

The government agency actually recommends that those who've been vaccinated continue wearing masks because vaccines are not 100 percent effective and it's not known if the virus can still be spread by those who have been innoculated.

CNN contributor Dr. Sanjay Gupta slammed Cruz on Thursday morning for lying about CDC guidance and potentially putting others at risk.

"So charming, right?" Gupta said after a clip of Cruz's exchange with the report was played.

"Even if you've been fully vaccinated, you need to keep taking precautions in public places, wearing a mask, staying six feet apart, avoiding crowds," he said of the CDC's guidance. "So it's just not the case."

"First of all, [vaccines] are not perfect. You can still get sick," he said.

"Also, the big wild card here, as we've talked about, are these variants. Even though he should be very well protected against severe illness and hospitalization from the variants, he may not be as well protected against moderate illness, mild illness and the possibility that he could still transmit the virus to somebody else."

Gupta said that by not wearing his mask when in close proximity to others, who haven't yet been vaccinated, "he's potentially putting other people in that room at risk. It's as simple as that."

"We've been talking about this for months now. That equation doesn't change yet. When enough people have been vaccinated, when we have reduced viral transmission rates low, that's when we can start to pull back on this."

In contrast to Cruz's heated exchange, also on Wednesday, President Joe Biden forgot to wear his mask as he stepped up to speak at the White House.

The mishap prompted laughter from the audience as Biden ran back to retrieve it, rather than ridicule.

Wednesday's exchange isn't the first time Cruz has been asked by a reporter to put on a mask during a press conference.

Back in October, he was asked by a reported from CNN to put on a face-covering during a huddle outside of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room.

Cruz simply responded "No," before adding that he was "standing six feet apart, which is what the CDC guideline is."

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