With his continued rise in the 2016 Republican presidential polls, the liberal media has circled back to attacking Marco Rubio over his personal finances with the latest attack pieces coming on Wednesday’s editions of the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News as both minimized the fact that Rubio was exonerated by a Florida ethics commission back in 2012.
Turning first to NBC, anchor Lester Holt hyped that while “Marco Rubio is enjoying a surge in the Republican polls, but with more attention comes more scrutiny” with him spending Wednesday “the defensive about his own finances.”
Reporting from New Hampshire, correspondent Hallie Jackson also stated that Rubio’s rise translates to “more scrutiny” and specifically “more questions on how he used a state party credit card when he was a Florida legislator, admitting he charged personal expenses to the card but paid them.”
Only briefly footnoting that “[a] state commission found no ethic violations,” Jackson declared that he nonetheless “admitted this opens him up to attacks from rivals.”
Over on the CBS Evening News, the setup was nearly identical with anchor Scott Pelley providing results of a new poll of the field from Quinnipiac before ruling that “[f]or Rubio, a rise in the polls means rising scrutiny.”
Chief White House correspondent Major Garrett gave viewers “the facts” about Rubio’s finances and use of the Florida GOP’s credit card, but only afterward did he mention that the Florida Senator “was cleared of wrongdoing by a Florida ethics watchdog in 2012.”
Speaking of opponents like Donald Trump, Garrett mentioned how that last point “hasn’t stopped Rubio’s rivals...from attacking him.”
Further, if one peruses the files of NewsBusters for blogs about the media’s coverage of Rubio, his finances has been a reoccurring issue that the liberal press have attempted to harness as a way to discredit him throughout the campaign thus far. By the looks of it, it’s all but certain this line from them won’t be going away anytime soon.
The relevant portions of the transcript from November 4's NBC Nightly News can be found below.
NBC Nightly News
November 4, 2015
7:10 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Feeling the Heat]
LESTER HOLT: Now to the race for 2016 where Senator Marco Rubio is enjoying a surge in the Republican polls, but with more attention comes more scrutiny. Our Hallie Jackson spoke on the campaign trail with Rubio, who was on the defensive about his own finances.
HALLIE JACKSON: Marco Rubio in the media scrum and the spotlight in New Hampshire, where he’s five times more popular now than before last week's debate, picking up more support from Senate colleagues, more money from a influential billionaire. All of it means more scrutiny.
(....)
JACKSON: For Rubio, more questions on how he used a state party credit card when he was a Florida legislator, admitting he charged personal expenses to the card but paid them. Two years worth of credit card statements still not disclosed. [TO RUBIO] So why not put them out?
REPUBLICAN SENATOR MARCO RUBIO (Fl.): We will. We are. [SCREEN WIPE] If they were personal expenses, I paid them. If they were party expenses, the party paid them. It’s that straightforward and that’s why it is debunked as an attack. It’s an old attack.
JACKSON: A state commission found no ethic violations but he admitted this opens him up to attacks from rivals.
DONALD TRUMP: Marco Rubio has a disaster on his finances. He has a disaster on his credit cards.
The relevant portions of the transcript from the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley on November 4 can be found below.
CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley
November 4, 2015
6:37 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Race for the White House]
SCOTT PELLEY: In the race for the White House, the latest poll shows Donald Trump and Ben Carson neck and neck on the Republican side. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are the only others in double-digits. The poll also found that against Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump could not win, but Carson, Chris Christie, Rubio and Cruz could. For Rubio, a rise in the polls means rising scrutiny, and here's Major Garrett.
(....)
MAJOR GARRETT: These are the facts: While a member of the Florida House of Representatives, Rubio failed to disclose $34,000 in personal expenses charged to two separate political funds. A home he owned with a fellow lawmaker fell briefly into foreclosure when the co-owner failed to make mortgage payments. Rubio sold the home at a loss earlier this year and in 2005, he started using a state Republican Party charge card for personal and party expenses. Rubio insists he paid off the personal charges as they arose. Rubio admits to sloppy bookkeeping. He was cleared of wrongdoing by a Florida ethics watchdog in 2012.
(....)
GARRETT: But that hasn't stopped Rubio's rivals, like Donald Trump, from attacking him.
DONALD TRUMP: Marco Rubio has a disaster on his finances. He has a disaster on his credit cards.
GARRETT: One chapter of Rubio's financial history remains hidden. Florida Republican Party charge card expenses from 2005 and 2006. Scott, Rubio's campaign has those records and told us the Senator has, quote, “nothing to hide” and under pressure, may release those records before Tuesday's Republican presidential debate.
