Donald Trump is escalating his attacks on Sen. Marco Rubio with a special delivery for his rival: “Trump Ice Natural Spring Water.”
Trump has previously trained his fire on Rubio, claiming he has the worst voting attendance record in the U.S. Senate and that he sweats a lot. But CNN learned that the Trump campaign sent a “care package” to Rubio’s Washington campaign office that contained a 24-bottle case of “Trump Ice Natural Spring Water,” with Trump’s face on it, two “Make America Great Again” towels and bumper stickers and a note reading, “Since you’re always sweating, we thought you could use some water. Enjoy!”
A Trump campaign aide said they added the towels “for him sweating,” and described the overall gesture as a lighthearted prank.
The package was delivered on Monday. The Rubio campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Rubio gained attention for his 2013 Republican State of the Union response when he desperately grabbed for a water bottle and conspicuously gulped it on air. He poked fun at himself during the most recent GOP presidential debate. But it was after that debate that Trump started commenting that Rubio was sweaty.
“I’ve never seen a young guy sweat that much. He’s drinking water, water, water. I never saw anything like this with him with the water,” Trump said while speaking in South Carolina last week.
On MSNBC the next morning, he said, “I’ve never seen a guy down water like he downs water. They bring it in in buckets for this guy.”
Rubio responded to the criticism during a Kentucky radio interview calling Trump a “very touchy and insecure guy.”
The Florida senator followed up on the prank when he was grilled about it on “Fox and Friends” on Tuesday.
“I didn’t see it. So it’s water. I heard it’s very high quality water. Apparently Evian are a bunch of losers.”
The case of water sent to Rubio contained twenty-four 16.9 oz bottles of water originating from springs in Willington, Connecticut, and is commonly found at Trump properties throughout the world. The label reads, “Water for the Body & Soul … This is water the way it was meant to be.”