Ed. note: The Rubio campaign has sent the list of questionable tactics included below at least three times thus far...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                       Rubio Press Team
February 20, 2016                                                

Rubio Campaign: Senator Cruz Should Repudiate New Wave Of False Calls

Marco Rubio for President Senior Advisor Joe Pounder issued the following statement after reports to the campaign about false and disturbing anonymous calls following last night’s rally in Clemson:

"At last night's Clemson rally, a gentleman in the crowd fell ill and Marco brought the event to a close so medical personnel could respond. Unfortunately, while Marco was leading the crowd in prayer, some were writing scripts for anonymous phone calls using the incident to suggest Marco was leaving the race. These calls are false, malicious, and beneath the dignity of all South Carolinians. Because of his track record in spreading such false rumors as he did in Iowa, Senator Cruz should immediately repudiate these calls. In the past 24 hours, Senator Cruz and his allies have flooded South Carolina with false and outrageous lies. Having realized he has run out of positions to flip flop on, Senator Cruz has settled on a strategy to steal elections through rumors and lies."

The campaign is urging South Carolina voters who suspect more dirty tricks by the Cruz campaign to immediately contact the Rubio campaign at truthsquad@marcorubio.com.

Cruz’s Record Of Questionable Tactics And Outright Lies Continue….

PERSONAL INSULTS: Cruz spokesman goes after Trey Growdy personally. GRETCHEN CARLSON: A pretty strong statement now coming from Trey Gowdy. The accusations were alive and well in Iowa as well with your camp against Ben Carson where you had to apologize. So what do you say in this case?” RICK TYLER: “Well, first of all Trey Gowdy, who was a former federal prosecutor with apparently limited skills, failed to look up that that Facebook started in 2014…” (Fox News, 2/17/16)

TRYING TO FOOL SOUTH CAROLINIANS: South Carolinians are being forwarded a Facebook post supposedly showing Trey Gowdy endorsing Ted Cruz. “Friends, It is official, I have changed my mind. My previous endorsement of Marco Rubio was a grave mistake. The recent South Carolina debate revealed his total lack of integrity, intillect and foresight. To all my Christian and Conservative friends in South Carolina, I hereby formally endorse Ted Cruz for President of the United States. Please share this message. May God bless the United States of America. Trey Gowdy Prayers.” (Facebook, 2/15/16)

ADS TAKEN DOWN: South Carolina television stations pull anti-Marco ad from pro-Cruz group after legal review. “Television stations in South Carolina have pulled an ad from Stand for Truth, the ‘super PAC’ supporting Senator Ted Cruz, after a legal review. The ad, titled ‘Sanctuary,’ was a version of an ad the group ran in Iowa, criticizing Marco Rubio for his record on immigration. … ‘We had our legal folks review it, and it was decided that this needed to be pulled and substituted,’ Randy Ingram, the general manager of WBTW in Myrtle Beach, S.C., said, although he couldn’t recall the specifics of the legal team’s decision. He said other stations in the Media General umbrella, which includes WCBD in Charleston and WSPA in Greenville/Spartanburg, also pulled the ad. The decision was made on Friday, and the ad was pulled from rotation on Saturday.” (The New York Times, 2/15/16)

LIES ABOUT RUBIO’S ABORTION RECORD: National Right to Life calls Cruz’s attacks on Marco “inaccurate and misleading.” “The National Right to Life, one of the chief arbiters of social issues in GOP politics, quickly stepped in to back Rubio and called Cruz's Friday remarks ‘inaccurate and misleading.’ ‘Marco Rubio voted to defund Planned Parenthood before Ted Cruz ever got to the U.S. Senate. Since Ted Cruz joined the U.S. Senate, both he and Sen. Rubio have voted the same on every roll call that National Right to Life regards as pertinent to defunding Planned Parenthood,’ said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life.” (Politico, 2/12/16)

LIES ABOUT RUBIO’S STRONG SUPPORT FOR MARRIAGE: Weekly Standard’s Michael Warren: Cruz being “shifty” and not forthright in attacking others on marriage. CAROL COSTELLO: “I will say Michael the gay marriage issue is probably very important in a state like South Carolina, and he wants to get ahead of what Ted Cruz is accusing him of.” MICHAEL WARREN: “That's right. Let's be honest here I mean Cruz is being somewhat shifty on this at least with regard to Marco Rubio. I mean Rubio came out after that decision and said that while this is the law of the land, that he would appoint court appointments who would seek to overturn this law. So Cruz isn't being quite forthright about this.” (CNN, 2/13/16)

SPANISH ROBOCALL: Robocall “recorded entirely in Spanish” hit South Carolina homes blasting Rubio and praising Cruz. “A robocall recorded entirely in Spanish is blasting Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) for supporting ‘amnesty’ for undocumented immigrants just two days out from the critical South Carolina presidential primary. The audio recording of the call was passed along to The Huffington Post by a resident of South Carolina who wished to remain anonymous. In the recording, a woman speaking in Spanish accuses Rubio, who on Wednesday picked up the coveted endorsement of South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R), of supporting ‘amnesty’ in contrast to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who is described in the call as opposing the idea. ‘Ted Cruz knows that those of us who followed the rules are tired of taking a back seat to those who cut in line,’ the woman says in Spanish  on the recording. The speaker emphasizes three phrases in particular – ‘Marco Rubio,’ ‘amnesty’ and ‘illegally.’” (The Huffington Post, 2/18/16)

• Robocall “is most likely an effort to make non-Spanish-speaking voters believe that Rubio is calling Hispanics and promising amnesty.” “If a Spanish-only robocall sounds peculiar in a state like South Carolina, where there are few residents who speak only Spanish -- and even fewer who speak only Spanish and vote in a Republican primary -- that's because it is. The recording is most likely an effort to make non-Spanish-speaking voters believe that Rubio is calling Hispanics and promising amnesty -- something that would make Rubio wildly unpopular among the many GOP voters who support building a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.” (The Huffington Post, 2/18/16)

LIES TO COVER-UP HIS OWN SUPPORT FOR JOHN ROBERTS: Told NBC that because John Roberts “didn’t have a track record,” he “would not have nominated” him. CHUK TODD: “You were a big supporter of him, but in hindsight you're not. Is that because you think that he didn't have a track record?” CRUZ: “He didn't have a track record and I would not have nominated John Roberts. Once George Bush nominated him, I supported the nomination as a Republican nominee.” (NBC’s “Meet the Press,” 2/14/16)

• In 2005, Cruz supported Roberts and specifically dismissed the “insufficient record” argument against Roberts since “he has a far longer record that is relevant: his professional career as a Supreme Court litigator.” “His nomination has been met with widespread praise, from left and right. Nevertheless, there are some who have raised complaints that his two years on the bench provide insufficient record for them to assess (and attack) his jurisprudence. That complaint misses the mark for three reasons. First, his judicial record would have stretched 14 years, had Senate Democrats not delayed its consideration twice, in 1991 and again in 2001. When his nomination did finally make it to the Senate floor, in 2003, he was confirmed by unanimous consent. Second, many distinguished jurists, such as Chief Justices William Rehnquist and Earl Warren and Justices O’Connor, Souter, and Thomas, similarly had very limited experience on the federal bench prior to ascending to the Court. And third, although two years on the bench provides a limited number of opinions, he has a far longer record that is relevant: his professional career as a Supreme Court litigator.” (Ted Cruz, Op-Ed, “The Right Stuff,” National Review, 7/20/05)

PUSH POLLS: Cruz faces allegations of conducting push polls in South Carolina. “Ted Cruz denied all knowledge of robocalls being made in South Carolina on Thursday after Donald Trump accused the Texas senator's ‘people’ of ‘doing very sleazy and dishonest “pushpolls” on me.’ … The episode follows a report by The Washington Post published earlier in the day that refers to robo-calls to potential voters in South Carolina that become hostile when the respondent voices support for a candidate other than Cruz. The Texas senator's campaign denied for that story that it was responsible for the calls, which said they were being conducted by Remington Research, the name of the consulting firm started by Jeff Roe, Cruz's campaign manager.” (Politico, 2/11/16)

SOFTCORE PORN AD: Cruz campaign removed an ad from air that featured a softcore porn star. “Ted Cruz’s campaign has pulled its most recent ad, ‘Conservatives Anonymous,’ after learning one of the actors in the spot is also a softcore porn star. The ad, which was set at a group therapy session of conservative voters who feel betrayed by Marco Rubio on immigration, featured actor Amy Lindsay, who played a woman telling another group member, ‘Maybe you should vote for more than just a pretty face next time.’ Lindsay has appeared in several softcore porn films, including Erotic Confessions, Carnal Wishes, Secrets of a Chambermaid, and Insatiable Desires.” (BuzzFeed, 2/12/16)

CARSON RUMORS: On Iowa caucus night, the Cruz campaign was accused of “sabotaging Carson” by passing around rumors he was dropping out of the race. “Dr. Ben Carson and his campaign accused Sen. Ted Cruz’s team of sabotaging Carson in the Iowa caucuses Monday night by encouraging Cruz supporters to tell voters at their caucus sites – incorrectly – that Carson was dropping out of the race. ‘It was happening all over,’ Iowa State Director Ryan Rhodes told MSNBC. ‘One of the precincts Candy [Carson, the candidate’s wife] walked into, she had to correct the record. She actually walked in, in Ankeny, and gave a speech about no, he’s still in the race and that’s a lie.’” (MSNBC, 2/1/16)

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