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Marco Rubio Attacks Donald Trump In Oklahoma City About Trump's Tweet. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired February 26, 2016 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[15:30:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, SITUATION ROOM: Attack on Donald Trump because, you know, Donald Trump makes it clear, you attack him, he is going to come right back. And as we see today, he is really going after Marco Rubio in ways that, you know, making fun of him with the drinking of the water and all that kind of stuff. And Rubio's not stepping back. I think Rubio has been told by major figures in the Republican Party, the Republican establishment, it is do or die right now. If you are going to bring down Trump and prevent him from getting the Republican nomination, you got to do it in the coming days. There's Super Tuesday coming up. And the Florida primary in mid-March is coming up. That's his home state.

If Rubio doesn't win Florida, if Cruz doesn't win Texas, they are both in big trouble right now. And Trump moves on. So it's a critical period. It's going to be lively.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN HOST: No question. It will be lively.

Wolf Blitzer, congrats on last night. More than 14 million people we just found out we're watching. So thank you so much, Wolf. We'll tune in, "SITUATION ROOM," in just about an hour and a half from now.

Wolf, thanks.

Let's listen in to Marco Rubio speaking live in Oklahoma City, I believe about Donald Trump's tweets.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Light-weight Marco Rubio was working hard last night. This is the working hard part is true. The problem is, he is a choker and once a choker always a chocker. He misspelled it. "Chocker." Mr. Meltdown.

Let me tell you about Mr. Meltdown. You want some behind the scenes and stuff? We had two commercial breaks in the middle of all this combat, you know, on stage. He goes -- he looked like he was it panic mode in the back. First, he took out like this little makeup compact. I caught him, like right here. He had like a sweat mustache. And then, then he asked for a full length mirror. Why do you need a full length mirror? The podium goes up to here. So I said earlier, maybe he was worried that his pants were wet or something. I don't know. So he wanted to see.

Then I saw him in the corner huddled with somebody and his arms was going up and down. And someone was like, calm down. Calm down. All right, not a good night for Donald Trump. He was melting down, all right.

Then at 7:48 a.m., so I guess he took a shower or whatever he did. He went over, wow, every poll said I won the debate last night. Great Honer. I think he meant honor but he spelled it honer, h-o-n-e-r. All right. Then at 8:56 a.m. Leightweight chocker. Think he meant to spell lightweight, but if says leightweight chocker Marco Rubio looks like a little boy on stage, not presidential material.

It's not that I'm a little boy. Because I wouldn't even be the youngest person ever president. He would be the oldest person ever president which is a problem because you can serve like eight years, you know, if he gets -- you know, you start to worry a little bit, alright.

So I look to see, how can this guy get this wrong, these misspells, I mean, you know, because some of these letters aren't even next to each other on the keyboard on your phone. And I concluded one of two things. Either that's how they spell chocker at the Wharton school of business or he must have hired foreign workers to handle his twitter handle.

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: So, we are not going to lose the party of Reagan and we are not going to lose the conservative movement to a con man. We are not going to let that happen. And the reason why is because this election is too important. In this election is a referendum. And you have to decide what kind of country will America be in the 21st century?

Now, we know what kind of country it's been until now, it's been special. Unique in all the world, OK. And most countries in the world, you can only be what your parents were before you. That's the only thing you're allowed to be, not in America. Here we believe everyone has a right to go as far as their talent and their work will take them. But that was not an accident. You know why that happened? Because the people who came before us did what needed to be done. They embraced the principles that made America special. They embraced limited government. They embraced and followed the constitution. They embraced free enterprise. They embraced the strong national defense. And so, for over 200 years, each generation has left the next better off. Now the time has come for us to do that.

Now, that's not what's going to happen if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders wins this election. So we can't lose this election. We will lose this election if Donald Trump is the nominee. Now, watch what the press is doing. The press is treating him with kid gloves. You saw some of these press reports in the morning was, wow, Donald Trump, what's he going to do to Marco Rubio today. He is so unstoppable. They don't touch any of the stuff he is about. On the other hand, they were written articles about how when I was 18 years old, OK, I got a citation from the cops for drinking beer in the park after hours. You can't be president if you haven't drunk beer in the park after hours, OK? At least not in some states in the country anyway.

But the point is, this is the level of investigation. They haven't even touched him. You know why? Because they can't wait - they are waiting for him to be the nominee. Then they will tear him apart. They will tear him apart and they will coordinate Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders or whoever it is that wins their nomination. And that would be a disaster.

Bernie Sanders is a socialist, OK. By the way, in most politics, when you call somebody a politics, they deny it. He says it in his commercials. So I'm not saying anything he wouldn't say. He's a nice guy. He's a socialist.

Hillary Clinton is under FBI investigation. That usually means you don't get to run for president but if you're a Democrat, I guess that's OK. But this is more serious. She's disqualified from being commander in-chief. No, because Hillary Clinton on September 11th of 2012, four Americans died in Benghazi as a result of a terrorist attack. And she knew that. She knew that. But she told their families -- she told their families that it was because of a movie. She lied to them. Anyone who lies to the families of those who have lost their lives in the service of our country can never be the commander in-chief of the United States!

(APPLAUSE)

[15:36:18] RUBIO: Disqualified. So we cannot lose this election. And if you give me your vote and you nominate me, we will not lose this election. We won't lose it because number one, we will unify this party. We will bring it together. We don't have to agree on everything. We can have differences on some issues. But we are going to unify this party. We cannot win if we're fighting against each other. I'm the only one left in this race that can bring us together as a party.

But we can't just unify. We also have to grow. Which means we have to take our message of conservatism to people that don't vote for us now. And I can and I will. I'll take our message to people who live today the way I grew up. I grew up paycheck to paycheck. I lived paycheck to paycheck. People asked me recently, how do you define paycheck to paycheck? I said paycheck to paycheck is when you write a check on Wednesday but you know the money doesn't get there until Friday so you date it Saturday. I'm not saying I ever did that. I'm just saying I know what --

We're going to take our message to people that have grown and they are living paycheck to paycheck. And we are going to say to then, I lived the way you live now. I grew up and faced the things you're facing now. And I'm a conservative and you should be too. Because that's the right way forward for me, for you and for the United States of America.

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: We are going to take our message. We are going to take our message to young Americans. Some of whom are living with student loan debt. By the way, if you took out a student loan to go to Trump University, the only thing you got was a piece of paper and a picture with a card board cutout of Donald Trump. So my apologies if you went to that university. And their football team is no good either. And so there are millions Americans today. We had a 500 percent

increase in student loan debt in this country. I'm the only Republican that talks about it all the time because for me it's personal. Because I had to face it. I had a plan to deal with this issue. We're going to take our message to families raising their children the way Jeannette and I are raising ours now. Because it's become harder than ever to raise your kids with the values they teach in church instead of the values that they try to ram down our throat in popular culture.

We are going to - we will unite this party and we will grew it. And if we do that, we will win. And that's why the Democrats don't run to run against me. Jim is right. In poll after poll, I beat Hillary Clinton and the Democrats know that. They attack me more than any other Republican in this race because they don't want to run against me.

Hillary Clinton does not want to run against me. I cannot wait to run against Hillary Clinton!

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: We will win. We will win this election. And then we'll get to work.

Now, what kind of president will you have when I am president of the United States, number one, you are going to have a president that for the first time in eight years that, like, follows the constitution of the United States of America. That means a constitution that says you have a first amendment right to live out the teachings of your faith in every aspect of your life. A constitution that says you have a second amendment right to protect yourself and your family! A tenth amendment that says that the power of government should largely reside in the states and in the local communities.

If it's unconstitutional, I will be against it. And that's why when I become president of the United States, on my first day in office, I will repeal every single one of Barack Obama's unconstitutional executive orders.

By the way, there's an opening in the Supreme Court now. And we shouldn't do anything on that opening until after this election. You have a right to weigh in on it. But you know what kind of justices we are going to appoint? People ling Antonin Scalia, God rest his soul, that understand the constitution is supposed to be applied according to its original meaning. It is not a living and breathing document that means whatever you want it to mean. Because if it means whatever you want it to mean, it means nothing at all. We're going to have judges that apply the constitution according to its original meaning.

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: By the way, if you want to change the constitution, there's a process for that. It's called article 5. And Article 5 says you, the citizens, can call a convention of states. In fact, your former senator Tom Cobyrn is leading that effort. And it's not an effort that it won't do anything with the first amendment, the second amendment, all those things stay in place. The only thing he is seeking and I support is term limits on Congress, term limits on judges and a balanced budget amendment for America.

(APPLAUSE)

[15:41:46] RUBIO: Now, number two, when I'm presented president of the United States, you're going to have a president who believes in free enterprise. I always laugh when I hear "Politico" figure say, when I was mayor, we created 100,000 jobs. And I say, really, you hired 100,000 government workers? Because unless you hired 100,000 government workers, you didn't create 100,000 jobs. The private sector did. And I can say that to you because my parents had a job as a bartender and a maid because the private sector created their job. Someone who had access to money risked that money to open up a hotel and hire them. That's how they were able to buy a home and raise a family and retire with dignity and give us a better life.

We are going to make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business when I'm president of the United States. We don't have time here today to go through all the details. But go on my Web site. You will see I have the best plan out there to bring our tax code into a globally competitive one. We have the best plan out there to roll back all of these crazy regulations that Jim Inhofe fights against all the time. We're getting rid of all these crazy regulations. We have the best plan out there to save Social Security and Medicare.

My mom is on Social Security and Medicare. But also bring our debt under control. We have the best plan out there to allow us to fully utilize our energy resources. God has blessed America with oil and natural gas. When I'm president, we are going to use it!

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: And I'm the only one running for president that's ever done anything against Obamacare. And that wasn't a long speech. It was actually something we did. And here is what we did. They created a bailout fund. When Obamacare passed, the insurance companies got them to create a bailout fund. They were going to bail out insurance companies that lost money with your taxpayer money. I led the effort and we got rid of the bailout fund. And when I'm president, we will get rid of the rest of Obamacare and put you back in charge.

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: The federal government is involved in all kinds of things it's not supposed to be involved in. Here's the one thing it does have to be involved in, the national security, OK. And it's not doing a good job right now because we had a weak, a very weak commander in-chief, OK.

And so - and look at the world today, by the way. Eight years of Barack Obama. The world has gotten more dangerous. There is a lunatic in North Korea with nuclear weapons. The Chinese are taking over the South China Sea. Vladimir Putin is sewing instability in Europe and the Middle East. Iran is going to get $100 billion of sanctions relief. And radical Islamic jihadists are spreading all over the world, especially ISIS.

In the face of all these growing threats, we are gutting our military. We are gutting our military, OK. Our army will soon be the smallest it has been since the end of World War II. The Navy will soon be at its smallest size in 100 years. And the air force will soon be smaller than it has ever been. So the world is getting more dangerous and we are gutting our military.

And by the way, how unfair is that to our men and women in uniform? Because we are still putting them in harm's way. But now we are putting them in harm's way with older weapons and less people alongside them. And by the way, with rules of engagement that don't even allow them to win. That's going to change. When I'm president of the United States, we are going to undertake a Reagan-style rebuilding of the U.S. military!

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: When I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a real war on terror, not a fake one like the one we have now, a real one. The best intelligence agencies in the world are going to find the terrorists. The best military in the world is going to destroy them. And if we capture any of these terrorists alive, they are not going to have the right to remain silent. They are not going to get a court hearing in Manhattan. They are not coming somewhere in Oklahoma. They are going to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

(APPLAUSE)

[15:46:02] RUBIO: when I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a foreign policy of moral clarity. Which means our allies know they can count on us. For example, in all of the Middle East, there's only one nation that is pro-American, a free enterprise economy and a democracy, Israel. That's right.

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: Maybe Donald Trump is confused and he wants to be impartial but I am not. If push comes to shove, I know whose side I'm going to be on. I'm going to be on Israel's side every single time. Every single time. And that is going to begin -- that is going to begin on my first day in office. Because as soon as I walk into the oval office, I will cancel Barack Obama's deal with the Ayatollah of Iran!

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: When I'm president, we are going to take care of our veterans again. If you are a veteran, if you are a veteran, would you lift your hand so we can thank you for your service to our country? God bless you. God bless you. Well -

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: My brother is a veteran. I have a brother that is 21 years older than I am. My parents had him in their, I guess, late teens, early 20s. People got married very young back then. And I was born 21 years later. Which means my parents were incredibly optimistic people. In 1968, my brother joined the army. He became a green beret in the 7th Special Forces. He served from '68 to '71.

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: When he was in the army as a green beret, one day in a training mission, he jumped out of an airplane, he landed wrong, knocked out his teeth. And so every five to ten years he has to go fill a dental claim at the VA and it's always a hassle. It's always the same thing. How do we know this happened in the military? He says, it's the only time I jumped out of a plane. And a quarter of the calls to my office, I bet you Jim would say the same, a significant number of calls that we get in our senate office is, are a veteran having to fight with the VA. We act like we are doing them a favor. They did us the favor. They took cash of us. We now have to take care of them.

HARLOW: You're listening to Marco Rubio speaking live in Oklahoma City, in front of this rally after his debate performance last night. We will continue to monitor this.

But I want to talk about what we heard from him so far, what we just heard earlier from Donald Trump at his rally in Ft. Worth, Texas, the back and forth, punching, counterpunch, et cetera.

With me now, Katie Packer. She is former deputy campaign manager for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. She is supporter of Rubio and also runs an anti-Trump super PAC. And Lou Garjullo is also with us. He is Trump's co-chair in Rockingham County, New Hampshire. Thank you both for being here.

Let me start with you, Katie. Where has this Marco Rubio been all this time?

KATIE PACKER, FORMER DEPUTY CAMPAIGN MANAGER, ROMNEY FOR PRESIDENT: I don't know the answer to that. You'll have to talk to his campaign about that. But I do think a lot of voters in the Republican Party, a majority of whom are not for Donald Trump, have been looking for a candidate that is going to take it to Donald Trump and think he showed last night he's got the grip and the fire to do that. And a lot of people whether they were for Marco before or not are sort of celebrating today that somebody's putting him in his place.

HARLOW: Is it too late though? Do you worry about that? I know you're a supporter of him. Look at the polls. You've even got the latest poll in Florida showing that Trump is beating Rubio in his own state.

PACKER: Well, there's one poll in Florida that shows that I've seen polls that have shown the race in Florida very, very close. But the common denominator is all of those polls were taken before the debate last night. But I think a lot is going to move here in the next several days. But you know, I did Mitt Romney's campaign in 2012 and we were running

a much more dominant race than campus today. And you know, we went on to fight for two more months because at the end of the day, it's a delegate count. And you have to race to get the most delegates. There's over 2,000 delegates to be chosen. And only a couple hundred have even been decided yet. So, of course it's not too late. There is lots of time, lots of states, lots of votes, and it is only sort of the media pundits that are suggesting that things are all over. And it is just couldn't be farther from the truth.

[15:50:25] HARLOW: No. Things are certainly not all over and they change daily and hourly as we have seen today.

You're a Trump supporter. You are, obviously, on his co-chair there in New Hampshire. How do you think we will see him strike back? Because as he said I don't punch really until they punch me. Well now, it is just sort of, no holds barred between Rubio and Trump, Lou.

LOU GARGIULO, TRUMP CO-CHAIR, ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE: I think Mr. Trump will continue to stay on his message which is very clear, to make America great again. And I thought it was incredible that senator Rubio just spoke about the kind of person who should be president. And he spoke about people who have built businesses. And that's something that senator Rubio doesn't have or never has done. He is a great eloquent speaker and I commend him for that.

But what he doesn't have is the leadership skills, the tenacity, the drive, the enthusiasm to make America great. He can speak certainly very clearly and very eloquently. When it comes time for the rubber to hit the road, it is clear it hasn't. One only has to look at him in the U.S. Senate where he has missed a tremendous amount of time while on the pay roll for the people of Florida.

HARLOW: Katie -- let's talk about that, Katie. He has, senator Rubio miss the most votes when you look at the Senate calendar and the vote schedule for 2015. I should also point out President Obama missed quite a few when he was running in the last go-around. But what about that criticism that can come back to bite him. His record, whereas with Trump, you know, there is no political record for people to point back at.

PACKER: Well, look. I'm not a spokesperson for senator Rubio. The Rubio campaign has discussed those things and Rubio has responded to that. But I think Lou is confusing leadership with bullying and coercion and intimidation. These are things that are not attractive qualities in a candidate or not attractive in a president. They're not attractive in a human being. And you know, we have seen time and time again that Donald Trump will trample over the rights and needs of good hardworking people to get to his own greedy personal goals.

HARLOW: What's an example?

PACKER: Well, you know, look at Trump University. Several people, there is a group out today with several ads from several individuals talking about how he defrauded them out of money. Made big promises and all they got was a picture of themselves with a cut out for Donald Trump. He, you know, moved a woman or threatened to move a woman out of her home in Atlantic City because he want to build a parking garage. In his projects over in Scotland where he wanted to build a golf course and he coerced and intimidated and bullied, you know, good people in Scotland, you know, I think misrepresenting Americans to those people.

I mean, example after example. This is a guy that has pursued an agenda of personal greed at the expense of a lot of people that are sort of innocent and helpless.

HARLOW: Lou, to you. Your response?

GARGIULO: First, I know a little about leadership as the CEO of a company, as a former military officer. So I understand what leadership is. And Mr. Trump has demonstrated leadership. He has gone to the heart of what people in this country are concerned about. Things like border security, things like jobs, things like veterans benefits, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. He has demonstrated, senator Rubio has been on the side lines, both in the Senate and in in this campaign today he is attempting to come out and attempting to be dominant. Well, it's not working. People see right through it.

PACKER: I think it is working.

GARGIULO: People are sick and tired of the same old, same old from Washington. They want bold dynamic, dramatic change. And Mr. Trump offers that change. And that's why he is doing so well in the polls. That's why he has won as many of the primaries thus far as he has. That's why after last night's debate, he is running in all the overnight polls substantially ahead of everyone else.

HARLOW: Katie, let me ask you about the endorsement, big endorsement bombshell, surprise endorsement. Chris Christie backing Donald Trump today, you know. That obviously has to sting. And just wonder what big endorsement you guys want?

PACKER: Again, I'm not here to speak for Marco Rubio. I don't know. Maybe that got lost in translation that I'm not listening.

HARLOW: You are a support of him, am I correct?

PACKER: I have no idea what --

HARLOW: So who would you like? Let me ever get this way. Who would you like to see --?

PACKER: I want to go back to Chris Christie. Chris Christie treatments establishment of New York and New Jersey just like Rudy Giuliani does, just like Donald Trump does. This is a guy who spent his whole life driving around in chauffeurs driven limousine, has president and first lady's attending his wedding, has been somebody that has been very much part of the him scenes, has presidents and first ladies attending his wedding. He's been very much part of the pay to play process with elected officials of New York. Donald Trump is so establishment that it will make your head spin. This idea that he is running against the establishment is sort of laughable. [15:55:27] GARGIULO: Like Marco Rubio hand taken tremendous amounts

of money.

PACKER: I'm not here to advocate for Marco Rubio.

HARLOW: Lou, look. When you look at Donald Trump and you look at the minority vote that is critical, right? If one thing was learned from Romney's campaign, and the RNC learned and they put out this whole memo autopsy of it, you have to get the minority vote on board. What is the best strategy, do you believe, to do that?

GARGIULO: I think talking about what the minority population is concerned about. And that's about jobs and job security. That's about veterans benefits. That's about a greater America. Everybody, one America for everyone, may they be minority, may they not be, they all deserve the same opportunity for success. The success that Mr. Trump has achieved and a lot of others have achieved.

PACKER: Within the $200 million inheritance from your father.

HARLOW: And as Trump said on the stage last night that I inherited $1 million and I turned it into this.

But Lou did you -- when you saw Chris Christie standing there next to Donald Trump today, did you think VP? Here's the ticket? Did you think attorney general? Did you think any of that?

GARGIULO: Certainly that thought has crossed my mind. And I think that Governor Christie has demonstrated a lot of leadership in difficult times and would certainly I think be on Mr. Trump's short list. But that's for Mr. Trump to decide. Mr. Trump recognizes there's a long road here to the nomination and he isn't going out and making those kinds of decisions without having the information. And without being able to select who he believes will be the best people for his administration. I'm sure that Governor Christie is certainly somebody who is held well in esteem and I think there are a lot of other people out there as well. I do think that's a possibility.

HARLOW: Let's remember, although Donald Trump and Chris Christie have a long history, their families have spent time together, they have both really criticized each other and gone hard against one another. Let's listen to his one example of Chris Christie taking on Trump back in December.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I'm not going to answer every crazy thing that Donald says. I have known him for a long time. And longer than probably anybody on that stage. I have known him for 13 years. And Donald is a great guy and a good person. I just don't think he is suited to be president of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why?

CHRISTIE: I don't think his temperament is suited for that. I don't think his experience is. He has great experience in doing things with business. But I will give you perfect example. If he doesn't get what he wants from John Boehner, he can't fire him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Katie Packer, to you, I mean, the fact that he called him entertainer in-chief, et cetera, and the fact that Donald Trump has come back and said, Christie knew about Bridgegate. He blamed him for some of the aftermath of Sandy, et cetera. Does that not resonate with voters now?

PACKER: Yes. I think it is a huge problem. But you know, we saw Chris Christie back in 2012 give Barack Obama a big fat wet kiss right at a pivotal time. I think Republicans saw that as a real betrayal of the party and the country. And I think he is turning around and doing the same thing. If he can't win, he is going to make sure the party can't win. And it is an agenda of Christie's that I don't quite understand. The notion that Chris Christie ever called somebody else's temperament into question is a little bit funny. But you know, birds of a feather flock together.

HARLOW: Hey, Lou, where is Ted Cruz in all this? And this remember days ahead of critical Super Tuesday, Texas being critical with 155 of those critical delegates for -- that Cruz wants.

GARGIULO: I think Senator Cruz is in trouble. I think that if he gets a majority in Texas, I would be surprised. I think if one wants to speak about temperament and the ability to forge relationships, Ted Cruz is certainly not one person who has been able to do that in his career.

I think that senator Cruz is a very intelligent guy, but I think he lacks the basic skills necessary to be able to do the kinds of deals that are necessary in government. I don't think he'll be able to foster those relationships.

In the Senate, he has not been able to do it. He hand gotten one U.S. senator to even endorse him. And you would think somebody who sits in that chamber would have that ability to do. And that really speaks for it. So I think he is in trouble and I think the people of Texas are --

HARLOW: We have to leave it there. Lou Gargiulo, thank you. Katie Parker, appreciate your time. I hope you both have a very nice weekend. What an unbelievable day on the campaign trail. If you didn't think it could get more interesting, well, it all just got turned on his head.

I will send you over to Jake Tapper with "THE LEAD' that starts right now.