Cruz refuses to wear a mask when asked to do so by the reporter at a press event

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Her. Ted CruzRafael (Ted) Edward Cruz The Hill’s Morning Report – Biden assigns Harris to the border; Press Conference Today Senate Democrats Pay Tribute To Mass Shooting Victims The Hill’s 12:30 Report – Presented By Facebook – COVID Vaccine Developments MORE (R-Texas) declined to wear a mask at a Capitol Hill press conference on Wednesday after a reporter repeatedly asked him to put one on as a courtesy to others in the room.

“Would you mind putting on a mask for us?” a reporter asked Cruz as he walked over to a row of microphones.

“Um, yeah, when I’m talking in front of the TV cameras, I’m not wearing a mask,” Cruz replied. “And we’re all immunized, so …”

Cruz turned and gestured to several of his GOP Senate colleagues, including Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Standing behind him wearing a mask.

“It would make us feel better,” the reporter urged Cruz.

Cruz told the reporter, “You can leave if you want. The whole point of a vaccine … CDC guidance is what we’re following.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines currently recommend that even those who have been vaccinated continue to wear masks because vaccines are not 100 percent effective and it is not known if the virus can still be spread by those who have the vaccine got.

It wasn’t the first time during the pandemic that reporters asked Cruz to wear a mask while talking to them and he declined.

In October, Cruz was asked by a CNN reporter if he would put on a mask during a chat outside a Senate committee interrogation room.

Cruz declined, saying he was six feet from others, so a face covering was not necessary.

Federal health officials have said all Americans should continue to wear face coverings in public to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Some Republicans on Capitol Hill have downplayed the effectiveness of masks, questioned the science behind them, and in some cases scolded Democratic counterparts for not wearing them on the ground.

Cruz was photographed in a plane without a mask in July, a photo that according to his office was taken during a short time while he was drinking.

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