The charges – which have surfaced along with questions about his personal finances as an issue for the GOP candidate in the 2016 campaign – are listed in two years (2007-’08) of statements obtained by ABC News that have been widely circulated in Florida political circles since Rubio ran for Senate in 2010. It described eight of those charges, totaling $7,244, as used for personal expenses.
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“If there was a personal expense, I paid it. If it was a Party expense, the Party paid it. Now I recognize in hindsight I would do it different to avoid confusion”. Rubio also relied on the party card of his political adviser, Richard Corcoran, to pay for many of his political expenses. Of that sum, $22,000 were personal expenditures – and the Republican presidential candidate repaid all of that portion, according to statements his campaign released Saturday. “He is a disaster with his credit cards”, the businessman and television personality told a press conference.
Rubio, for example, charged more than $5,000 during his seven-night stay at the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas in August 2005.
“If this is all (the other campaigns) are coming at him with, then he is going to be in good shape”, offered Republican media analyst Pete Snyder.
The largest personal expense detailed in the newly released statements is of $3,765.24 to a tile company in Rubio’s hometown of Miami, although the records show that the same amount was repaid to American Express the following month.
In recent years, several other politicians have gotten in trouble for misusing campaign funds.
He also personally paid the $250 in late fees, NBC noted.
“This is just typical political opposition research stuff”, said Corallo.
Rubio insists he used his own money to reimburse Republicans for personal charges, though his campaign conceded over the weekend “it could not provide full documentation proving Mr. Rubio had paid the personal charges himself because the corresponding personal bank statements were too old to be retrievable”. He had charged items such as grocery bills, plane tickets for his wife and repairs to the family minivan to the card. ‘The Republican Party of Florida did not pay for any of Marco’s personal expenses.
Since Rubio has begun to rise in the polls, his financial history has become an increasingly heavy target for opponents like Bush. Charlie Crist, with leaking the documents to the newspapers. This was paid to American Express on November 15, 2005. The ban prevents lawmakers from taking gifts from lobbyists, but the state party doesn’t face the same restrictions.
I looked at the field and have now concluded that the best man to lead America forward in this new American century is Marco Rubio, Pompeo said on Fox News’s The Real Story with Gretchen Carlsonon Friday.
Rubio and Bush have been heading in opposition directions in most GOP presidential polls, which have the Cuban-American US senator ahead of the former Florida governor by an average of six points.
The new statements for Rubio’s Republican Party of Florida American Express card cover the period from January 2005 to October 2006.
“Marco Rubio has a disaster on his finances”, Trump said.
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“I find it curious that Donald Trump, the only person in this race that has filed for bankruptcy not once but four times, is attacking anyone’s finances”, he said.
