Facebook posts
Facebook posts
stated on January 23, 2023 in a Facebook post:

Video shows Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez crying after “Ted Cruz gets up and humiliates her to her face.”

False

No, this video doesn’t show Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez crying over Ted Cruz’s remarks

If your time is short

  • This video doesn’t show Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., crying over remarks by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. 
 
See the sources for this fact-check

The preview image of a Facebook video that promises congressional waterworks shows two photos side by side. On the left, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaking at a lectern. On the right, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., crying and wiping her eye with a tissue. 

“Aoc Brought to tears as Ted Cruz Gets up and HUMILIATES her to her face,” a Jan. 23 Facebook post sharing the video says. 

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook.)

A reverse image search of the photo of Ocasio-Cortez reveals that she’s not crying over Cruz. Rather, she was moved by the testimony during a 2019 House Oversight Committee hearing of a Guatemalan mother describing border detention facilities. 

The photo of Cruz comes from a speech he gave on the Senate floor two years later. It’s unlikely Ocasio-Cortez, a congressional representative, would have been in the chamber at the time. 

Cruz discussed immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border during his speech, and briefly mentioned Ocasio-Cortez. 

“Rep. Ocasio-Cortez has a famous photo of her grasping her head by the kids in cages,” Cruz said, referring to images she shared in 2019 that showed her at the border. “Well, I want to give a simple challenge to Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and for every Democrat in this body. Go see the Biden cages.” 

We rate claims that this video shows Cruz making Ocasio-Cortez cry False. 

 

No, this video doesn’t show Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez crying over Ted Cruz’s remarks

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
stated on January 7, 2026 a press briefing

stated on January 14, 2026 a statement

Social Media
stated on February 14, 2026 social media posts



stated on January 20, 2026 an op-ed


Donald Trump
stated on February 3, 2026 remarks in the Oval Office


Social Media
stated on February 8, 2026 social media posts





Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
stated on stated on November 17, 2025 in remarks at George Washington University:

Donald Trump
stated on February 2, 2026 an interview with Dan Bongino