Overview

• During a crime hearing, Cruz urged bipartisan action and mistakenly said, “Let’s stop attacking pedophiles,” then continued without correcting himself.
• Cruz immediately pivoted to praising National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C., citing large crime reductions that he attributed to the move.
• A spokesperson told HuffPost the senator misspoke while listing offenses, saying he intended to call for opposing pedophilia rather than defending offenders.
• The clip drew wide mockery on X and elsewhere, with critics linking the moment to disputes over releasing Jeffrey Epstein–related files.
• One outlet reported that social posts from Cruz later shared clips of his remarks but omitted the seconds containing the gaffe.