Marco Rubio is done playing nice with Donald Trump.
The Florida senator came out swinging at CNN’s Republican presidential debate Thursday night, hitting the GOP front-runner on a range of issues including immigration and his business hiring practices. The heated rhetoric marked a sharp turn for Rubio, who has been reticent to directly challenge Trump in previous debates.
“You’re the only person on this stage that’s ever been fined for hiring people to work on your project illegally,” Rubio told Trump at the final debate before Super Tuesday.
The two spoke over each other in a tense exchange as Trump argued he is the only one on stage with hiring experience.
“I’ve hired tens of thousands of people over my lifetime,” he said.
Rubio later mocked Trump for having a “fake school,” referring to lawsuits aimed at Trump University alleging fraud and deception.
Trump hit back: “Here’s a guy that buys a house for a $179,000 — he sells it to a lobbyist who’s probably here for 380,000.”
Rubio responded by calling out Trump for his privileged background.
“If he hadn’t inherited $200 million, you know where Donald Trump would be right now? Selling watches in Manhattan,” Rubio said.
The tough talk comes as Trump heads into the March 1 Super Tuesday contests with remarkable momentum, after consecutive victories in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Rubio has struggled to step out of Trump’s shadow and Thursday’s debate could mark a pivotal moment as he seeks to convince voters that he is best positioned to be an alternative to Trump and united a fractured Republican Party.
Ted Cruz also went on the offensive, saying Trump had previously donated to Democrats who had worked on the so-called Gang of Eight immigration reform bill. Voters should judge a candidate by looking at their “record before they were a candidate for president,” Cruz added.
The conservative firebrand senator came in first-place in the Iowa caucuses but has not been able to notch another win since, and has been forthright about the ramifications of Super Tuesday, especially the significance of his home state of Texas, where there are 155 delegates at stake.
A Monmouth University poll released Thursday put Cruz 15 points ahead of Trump in Texas.
Responding to Fox
Trump also responded to former Mexican President Vicente Fox recent response to Trump’s claim that Mexico would pay for his proposed U.S.-Mexico wall.
“I’m not going to pay for that f***ing wall. He should pay for it,” Fox told Fusion’s Jorge Ramos in an interview published Thursday.
On the CNN debate stage, Trump quipped: “The wall just got ten feet taller.”
“I saw him make the statement. I saw him use the word that he used,” Trump added. “This guy used a filthy disgusting word on television … He should apologize.”
Trump went into the debate facing calls to release his tax returns. Mitt Romney told Fox News on Wednesday that there could be a “bombshell” in Trump’s tax returns, a line that signaled anxiety inside the GOP establishment that the billionaire businessman might become the nominee.
Trump struck back in a series of tweets and told CNN’s Anderson Cooper, “there is no bombshell at all other than I pay a lot of tax and the government wastes the money.”