Marco Rubio, joined at times by Ted Cruz, launched a battery of attacks against Donald Trump at Thursday’s GOP debate, assailing his lengthy business record and even trying to tu the tables on the primary front-ruer after he teased Rubio over his debate “meltdown” earlier this month.
Both Rubio and Cruz are fighting hard to throw Trump off his stride as the field charges into the all-important Super Tuesday contests. But Rubio was unrelenting in keeping the pressure on Trump Thursday night. In perhaps their most heated and lively exchange, Rubio fired back when Trump mocked him for repeating himself on stage weeks ago against then-candidate Chris Christie.
Rubio said Trump was doing the same thing as he described his plan to remove “lines around the states” to increase competition among health insurers.
“Now he’s repeating himself,” Rubio said.
Trump said he watched Rubio “repeat himself five times four weeks ago.” But Rubio swiftly shot back, “I saw you repeat yourself five times five seconds ago.”
In a sign of Trump’s mounting momentum in the Republican primary race, he remained the top target throughout the CNN-Telemundo debate in Houston.
Trying to brush off the attacks, at one point he told Cruz, “Swing for the fences.”
Trump continued to tout his polling successes, and claimed he’s growing the Republican Party.
“We are building a new Republican Party. A lot of new people are coming in,” Trump said.
But his Senate candidate rivals did all they could to raise questions for the American people about Trump’s record.
Rubio mocked Trump’s past company bankruptcy filings. Cruz suggested Trump had something to hide in his still-unreleased tax retus.
Both candidates cited the ongoing fraud case against the former Trump University as well as decades-old allegations that he hired illegal immigrants for a project in New York.
“I‘m the only one on the stage that’s hired people. You haven’t hired anybody,” Trump told Rubio, calling his allegation on illegal immigrant hiring “wrong.”
But Rubio stood by it, and Cruz backed him up.
Rubio later said Trump “lied about the Polish workers.”
“Thirty-eight years ago,” Trump said.
“I guess there’s a statute of limitations on lies,” Rubio said.
According to press reports from more than 25 years ago on the case, Trump at the time claimed he didn’t knowingly hire undocumented workers.
In a personal shot at his business success, Rubio also said if Trump hadn’t inherited money he’d be “selling watches in Manhattan.”
“I took one-million and I tued it into 10 billion dollars,” Trump said.
But Trump at times found it hard to get a word in as Rubio launched rapid-fire attacks at the businessman.
At the debate, Trump also doubled down on his promise to build a U.S.-Mexico wall if elected, responding to Idea by former Mexican President Vicente Fox, who said Mexico will not pay for the “f------ wall.”
Trump said at the debate, “I will, and the wall just got 10 feet taller, believe me.”
Rubio again used the issue to bring up the illegal hiring case.
“If he builds the wall the way he built Trump Towers, he’ll be using illegal immigrant labor,” he said.
“Such a cute sound bite,” Trump responded.
Cruz also went after Trump, when the front-ruer said Cruz should be “ashamed” for failing to get any support from his fellow GOP senators.
“If you want to be liked in Washington, that’s not a good attribute for a president,” Cruz said.
He, too, challenged Trump’s record on immigration.
“Anyone who cared about illegal immigration wouldn’t be hiring illegal immigrants,” Cruz said.
And Cruz challenged Trump when he claimed he doesn’t want “socialized medicine” but would also not allow people to “die on the streets.”
“So the govement pays everyone’s health care,” Cruz said.
“Call it what you want,” Trump later said.
The candidates faced off as Trump’s rivals scramble to undercut his momentum in a last-ditch bid before Super Tuesday to mount a viable challenge against the billionaire front-ruer.
The debate in Houston, hosted by CNN and Telemundo, is their last before more than a dozen states hold contests on Tuesday, when nearly half of the delegates needed to win the nomination are on the line. Anything close to a sweep by Trump would be devastating for the other remaining contenders.
The front-ruer’s momentum has only intensified this month with three straight primary and caucus wins, and he’s threatening to knock down his rivals, one by one, in each of their home states in March.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s campaign, despite performing poorly in the South Carolina and Nevada contests, issued a defiant call Thursday for Marco Rubio to drop out – citing his shaky numbers in his home state.
“@marcorubio needs to do the right thing & suspend campaign,” Kasich spokesman Chris Schrimpf tweeted, referring to the March 15 primary in Florida.
The state is considered a must win for the Florida senator, but a new Quiipiac University poll showed Trump leading Rubio 44-28 percent among primary voters there.
Ben Carson, meanwhile, has appeared immune to the political pressure or the poor showings in South Carolina and Nevada. After placing fourth in Nevada, Carson declared to supporters that “things are starting to happen.”