Marco Rubio took on Ted Cruz Monday, going after his 2016 rival for his vote to “weaken” intelligence programs in the wake of the massive terror attack in Paris.
The Florida senator, who also fought with Cruz over immigration, argued that the United States is “vulnerable” to an attack like the one in Paris, calling out Cruz by name.
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“We are vulnerable,” Rubio told the Wall Street Journal’s Gerard Baker at the newspaper’s CEO Council in Washington, D.C. “What happened in Paris could happen in any major U.S. city at any moment, at any time — not that there’s a specific threat that I’m going to share or know about. I just know — we just know that this is true, that there is, in fact, elements that seek to strike us in the homeland and have the capability to do so. It’s just a matter of if they can carry it out.”
Rubio then set his sights on Cruz, saying he “in particular” voted to “leave America vulnerable,” pointing to his June vote for the USA Freedom Act, which Rubio’s campaign lampooned on social media.
“I think [intelligence programs are] a distinctive issue of the debate in the presidential race,” Rubio said. “At least two of my colleagues in the Senate aspring for the presidency, and Sen. Cruz in particular, have voted to weaken the U.S. intelligence programs just in the last month and a half. And the weakening of our intelligence gathering capability leaves America vulnerable — and that is exactly what’s happened.”
“We have weakened the U.S. intelligence-gathering capability through a combination of disclosures by a traitor — Edward Snowden — and also through the weakening of our own laws of important programs that now are being phased out,” Rubio explained. “As a result, it will cost us the ability to gather actionable intelligence against elements operating in our territory.”
Rubio’s campaign pointed out that the Florida senator was among the 32 nays on the measure, which banned the bulk collection of data by the National Security Agency and replaced a controversial provision of the Patriot Act, while Cruz was one of 67 yays. The Texas senator’s vote put him on the same side as President Obama, who signed the bill, and the vast majority of Democrats in the Senate.
Notably, among those who voted alongside Rubio on the measure are fellow 2016 candidates Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders.
Cruz’s campaign responded on Twitter later Monday night, with campaign spokesman Rick Tyler wondering if fellow GOP Sens. Kelly Ayotte, Chuck Grassley and Tim Scott also “voted to weaken” national security by supporting the bill.
