Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said Sunday that he is not sure if Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is eligible to be president.
“I really don’t know,” Trump said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Host George Stephanopoulos asked Trump about his decision to retweet a supporter’s claim that Rubio, who was born in Miami, is not a eligible to become president because Rubio is not “a natural born” American citizen due to his parents’ birth in Cuba.
“Somebody said it and I retweeted it,” Trump said, explaining his reason for the tweet.
Trump, who won South Carolina’s GOP primary Saturday, said he hasn’t studied the issue but wanted to facilitate conversation among his 6.3 million Twitter followers.
“Let them make their own determination,” Trump said.
Trump has made similar charges about Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Cruz was born in Canada to a mother who was a U.S. citizen.
Trump previously said he has no questions about Rubio’s eligibility to run, and has not taken aim at the Florida senator before.
There is good reason for his prior stance. There is no legal basis for the view Rubio’s status as the son of immigrants bars his becoming president. Trump’s retweet linked to a video posted by an obscure group making an odd argument that Rubio is barred because the 14th amendment to the Constitution is invalid. No reputable legal scholar has made such a claim.
Appearing later on the same show, Rubio declined to address Trump’s musing.
“This is a pattern. This is a game he plays,” Rubio said, arguing Trump makes controversial claims to wrest media attention away from rivals.
“I’m going to spend zero time with his interpretation of the Constitution with regards to eligibility,” Rubio said.
Rubio, who edged Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for second in South Carolina, said he can unify the party.
Rubio said he will support Trump if the real estate developer is the GOP nominee.
But he said Trump has not exhibited enough understanding of foreign policy to be president.
“To say, ‘I’m gonna surround myself with really smart people,’ — that’s not enough,” Rubio said. “The world is not gonna wait until you catch up before they start testing you.”
Earlier on the program, Trump declined to say he has the GOP nomination wrapped up.
“I’m dealing with very talented people, very smart people, great politicians,” he said.
Trump complained that Cruz ran primary day robocalls in South Carolina. The calls argued Trump supports gay marriage and opposes the display of the Confederate flag, he said.
“This is a tough business,” Trump said. “These people are worse than Manhattan real estate developers. This is rough stuff, politics.”
