Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign released 22 months of charge card statements on Saturday that show the candidate made $7,243.74 in personal purchases in 2005 and 2006 on a Florida Republican Party charge card.
The announcement comes as Rubio is under greater scrutiny for his personal use of the American Express charge card, which he said was secured under his personal credit in conjunction with the state’s Republican Party. Some of Rubio’s previous charge card statements have emerged, but the release on Saturday provides the first look at his purchases for the period from January 2005 through October 2006 when he led the campaign operation for Florida House Republicans.
Rubio has said he mixed personal and business expenses on the card — but paid for the personal charges himself, while the Florida Republican Party covered business-related political costs.
Rubio’s campaign said he made eight personal charges, totaling $7,243.74 out of the $64,777.82 charged to the card during that 22-month time period.
The charges from 2005 and 2006 are about half of the $117,294.73 that Rubio charged to the Florida GOP American Express card in 2007 and 2008 when he was House speaker. That two-year period included 73 personal charges worth $22,003.19, and those records had been obtained by some media outlets, including CNN.
Rubio has repeatedly called the personal charges on the state GOP-issued card a mistake, even though it wasn’t out of line with Florida Republican leaders’ practices at the time.
“Nevertheless, in hindsight, I wish that none of them had ever been charged,” Rubio wrote in his 2012 autobiography “American Son.”
“When the statements were later leaked during my Senate campaign, they invited press skepticism, confused some of the public and allowed an opponent to suggest the party had paid for personal expenses,” he wrote. “As often as it is remarked, it always bears repeating: in politics, appearances are as important as reality.”
The largest personal charge from 2005-2006 was $3,756.24 to Iberia Tiles for flooring, which Rubio has said he paid for using the wrong credit card and paid off immediately in the next billing period, according to the campaign.
Two of the personal charges from 2005 and 2006 were from a Las Vegas trip. Rubio’s campaign said he extended a political business-related stay for personal reasons and has family in the area, the campaign said.
Even with the release of the statements, CNN could not independently verify which charges were personal and which were business-related.
Details about Rubio’s Florida GOP charge card spending emerged in his 2010 Senate race — and presidential rival Jeb Bush’s campaign recently told donors that the campaign of 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney unearthed concerns during that campaign’s vice presidential vetting process. Former Romney aides have denied that charge, however.
