Sen. Marco Rubio acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that he shouldn’t have launched a series of attacks against Donald Trump over the last few weeks.
Appearing at a town hall on MSNBC set to air Wednesday night, Rubio said that the attacks are something he’s not “entirely proud of,” and said he would not do it again if given the choice.
“In terms of things that have to do with personal stuff, yeah, at the end of the day it’s not something I’m entirely proud of,” Rubio said. “My kids were embarrassed by it, and if I had to do it again I wouldn’t.”
While his attacks won the senator coverage that momentarily rivaled Trump’s, they were unable to move the needle for Rubio, who was unable to increase his vote total ahead of Super Tuesday. He won just one state that day, Minnesota, to Trump’s seven and Sen. Ted Cruz’s three.
Most notably among the attacks, Rubio joked about the size of Trump’s genitalia by pointing out his small hands. Rubio told a crowd in Virginia that “you know what they say about guys with small hands,” and then added, “you can’t trust ’em!”
Last week, Rubio stopped poking fun at Trump or making jokes about his spray tan, and focused once again on his past business dealings.
Rubio’s comments come less than a week before the Florida primary, which could be do-or-die for the Florida senator, who’s campaign has been hit by whispers this week that he might ditch his presidential bid before Tuesday’s primary.
