The Washington Post found that Rubio did use his card for personal expenses, but at the end of each month would go through the statements and reimburse American Express for any personal charges. Rubio spent a few of his early childhood living in Nevada, and according to his campaign extended his trip to visit with relatives. It did not explain the other expenses on the card. “Those credit card statements are an internal party matter”, Rubio told the editorial board of the Times-Union of Jacksonville in September 2010. “So all I can say is they need to be degraded and destroyed, and our plan to do so is not working”.
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In total, records show he made $16,052 in personal charges.
Romney eventually tapped U.S. Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, forming a ticket that lost the election to the incumbents, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
Republican presidential candidates use terms like “anchor baby” to describe American-born children.
In 2010, a Florida man filed an ethics complaint against Rubio for the charges, but it was dismissed. Numerous charges on the card looked like legitimate business expenses – the drumbeat of schmoozing by a rising politician.
During last month’s heavily criticized CNBC debate, moderator Becky Quick asked Rubio if his dubious bookkeeping skills – intermingling campaign money with personal money, facing foreclosure on a second home, and liquidating a $68,000 retirement fund – suggest he lacks the requisite maturity and wisdom to lead the U.S.’s $17 trillion economy.
There’s been a little more shouting this week from Jeb Bush, and a little more salty language, too, as the Republican candidate for president tries to reboot a campaign that’s fallen from front-running to middle of the pack. But with Bush sliding in the polls and questions about his long-term viability as a candidate, Rubio loyalists say that a conversion is taking place in this fundraising Mecca.
Rubio, a former speaker of the Florida House, had the party-issued card from February 2005 to November 2008.
Bush said this during a session the former Florida governor had with a group of reporters on his new “Jeb Can Fix It” campaign bus as it rolled through the colorful wonder of New Hampshire in the fall.
On Tuesday, the Tampa Bay Times rehashed a years-worn controversy dealing with Rubio’s tenure in Florida politics as speaker of the House.
“But the Republican Party never paid a single personal expense of mine – personal expense”.
Rubio added that he had paid his personal bills “years before any of this was even public”.
One Republican who worked closely with Pounder credits him with revolutionizing the way the party does opposition research, ushering in an age where opposition research and rapid response are living, breathing things that move with the news cycle and social media.
“That’s Donald being Donald”, Rubio said then.
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Top Rubio campaign aides point to a February 2010 statement from a party spokeswoman who said at the time “there are no formal party rules or bylaws that govern credit card expenses”. “When they are ready, we’ll make them available”, he said.
