Florida Sen. Marco Rubio on Friday opened a new line of attack against billionaire Donald Trump by declaring the front-runner is a “con artist,” just hours after the two Republican presidential hopefuls grappled with each other in Thursday’s GOP debate.
“A con artist is about to take over the conservative movement and the Republican Party and we have to put a stop to it,” Rubio said on CBS’ “This Morning.” “[Trump] is wholly unprepared to be president of the United States.”
Rubio, who criticized Trump Thursday evening for hiring illegal immigrants and failing to put forward a detailed healthcare plan to replace Obamacare, used the phrase “con artist” at five separate points in the interview to describe his GOP opponent.
“I mean this is unreal. Again, this guy is a con artist,” the Florida senator added moments later during a separate interview on NBC’s “Today” show.
“He’s always making things up,” Rubio said. “No one holds him accountable for it.”
“You have a guy who is being sued right now for fraud for Trump University. I’ve had stories written about my driving record. We had red light camera tickets. I have some guy go back and write a story about how when I was 18 I got arrested or cited I should say for drinking beer in a park after hours. He’s being sued for fraud, for defrauding people. Here’s a guy who had to pay a judgment for hiring Polish workers illegally to build Trump Towers.”
Despite trailing Trump by 16 percentage points in his home state, as shown in a Quinnipiac University survey of Florida Republicans released Thursday, Rubio said he is confident that he will defeat the brash New York billionaire in the Sunshine State.
“We will win Florida. I know our state very well,” he said on CBS. “It is not going to vote for someone like Donald Trump.”
