Marco Rubio slammed President Barack Obama’s plan to visit Cuba and defended calling Ted Cruz a liar at CNN’s GOP town hall in South Carolina Wednesday night.
The Florida senator said that if he were president, he would not visit the island nation — unless it were a “free Cuba.”
The Cuban government is “an anti-American communist dictatorship,” said the Cuban-American senator, who has been an outspoken critic of Obama’s Cuba policy. “They’re a repressive regime.”
Rubio also doubled down on his recent accusation that Cruz is “lying,” saying there is simply “no other word” for his rival’s behavior.
“It’s about your record, you’ve gotta clear it up,” he told moderator Anderson Cooper. “These things are disturbing and they need to be addressed.”
Rubio insisted, however, that his escalating feud with Cruz was “not the core of my campaign.”
Cruz, a Texas senator, will appear separately at the town hall later in the evening, but he has previously rejected the accusation of lies leveled by Rubio and other opponents.
Before Rubio, Ben Carson took the stage and said that if he were president in his last year of office, he would nominate someone to replace late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
“I probably would take the opportunity to nominate someone. Doesn’t necessarily mean that person will be acted on or confirmed,” Carson said Wednesday night, ahead of the Palmetto State’s Republican primary on Saturday. “Why not do it?”
The retired neurosurgeon opened the forum, and also weighed in on the ongoing discussions over whether the cell phone of one of the attackers in the San Bernardino mass shooting should be unlocked.
“Apple and probably a lot of other people don’t probably necessarily trust the government these days,” Carson said, pushing for a “public-private partnership.”
It’s a “matter of people learning to trust each other,” Carson added, saying Apple should “sit down with trustworthy members of the government.”
Carson has struggled to regain his footing after briefly surging in the polls months ago. The political newcomer has particularly stumbled over national security and foreign policy questions — critical issues in a state that has a large military and veterans community.
One questioner put Carson on the spot by asking what qualifications he has to be the country’s commander in chief, particularly in light of the growing threat of ISIS and instability in the Middle East.
Carson responded that he was prepared for the job, repeating a line he frequently uses on the trail: that he has had to take more 2 a.m. phone calls than anybody else in the race.
“It’s the political class that has tried to convince everybody that they’re the only ones who can solve our problems,” he said. “What we really need are people who know how to solve problems — not people who know how to talk.”
Carson also reflected on the experience of running for president for the first time, saying he has seen the good and the dark side of politics.
“It hasn’t been that great dealing with the press,” he said.
The prime-time event offers each of the candidates an opportunity to make a personal case to the voters of this Southern state just three days before voting begins. Unlike in the debates, the White House contenders are each on stage separately and field questions from audience members as well as moderator Anderson Cooper.
A second CNN town hall Thursday night will feature the remaining three GOP candidates: Donald Trump, Jeb Bush and John Kasich.
Though Cruz and Rubio won’t be sharing the stage Wednesday, there’s plenty of opportunity for jousting. Earlier in the day, Rubio slammed Cruz for “disturbing” behavior on the campaign trail, saying that his Senate colleague has mischaracterized his record.
Cruz hit back during a press conference where he derided Rubio as “behaving like Donald Trump with a smile.”
The two men have clashed bitterly over immigration at the last South Carolina Republican debate on Saturday. Cruz accused Rubio of joining with Senate Democrats on an “amnesty plan,” spurring Rubio to denounce the Texas senator for spreading “lies.”
Both Cruz and Rubio are hoping for a strong showing in the state, where Trump continues to hold a sizable lead. A new CNN/ORC poll out Tuesday showed Trump on top at 38%, followed by Cruz at 22%, Rubio at 14% and Bush at 10%.