FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                          Alex Conant/Brooke Sammon
November 7, 2015                                                

MARCO RUBIO FOR PRESIDENT RELEASES FULL ACCOUNTING OF FLORIDA GOP CARD

Marco Rubio for President today released 22 months of previously unreleased statements from Marco’s Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) American Express. The newly released statements cover the period from 1/05 to 10/06. In all, Marco had an RPOF AMEX for approximately four years, from 1/05 to 12/08.

Newly Released Statement Period (1/05 to 10/06):

Total Charges: 484
Total Amount Charged: $64,777.82
Number of Personal Charges: 8
Amount of Personal Charges: $7,243.74

Total 4-Year Period (1/05 to 12/08):

Total Charges: 1,307
Total Amount Charged: $182,072.55
Number of Personal Charges: 73
Amount of Personal Charges: $22,003.19

Marco paid his ​personal charges directly to American Express. The Republican Party of Florida did not pay for any of Marco’s personal expenses. Further, taxpayer funds were not used for any political or personal charges on the card.

In fact, earlier this week, the Washington Post fact-checker reviewed the previously released credit card receipts and determined “the information released so far, a mountain’s been made out of molehill, by the media and Rubio’s opponents.”

In addition, the Florida Ethics Commission thoroughly investigated Marco’s use of the American Express card and other false attacks against Marco, and dismissed them.

Further, an independent audit committee of the Florida GOP did its own investigation and determined that Marco did nothing wrong, stating, “We reviewed all of the credit card charges that were incurred by or on behalf of Mr. Rubio on his RPOF American Express Card between 2007 and 2009. We asked to obtain additional information from Mr. Rubio about certain charges. Mr. Rubio provided us with that information and a sufficient explanation to allow us to confirm that the charges we questioned were, in fact, related to RPOF business.” – “The Report of Investigation to the Republican Party of Florida,” Alston and Bird LLP, 9/11/2010

Complete background below:

    Between 2005 and 2006, Marco Rubio served as speaker-designate of the Florida House of Representatives. During this time, he led the Florida House’s Republican campaign operation (the equivalent of the National Republican Congressional Committee), which included an aggressive travel and fundraising schedule.
  • Between 2007 and 2008, he served as Speaker of the Florida House. During this time, he continued fundraising for the state party, and also traveled around the state advocating for the major policy initiatives in his agenda – for example, property tax reform.
  • Throughout this entire four-year period, he was one of the state party’s chief fundraisers and party builders, and the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) provided him and other top party leaders and officials with an American Express card to pay for expenses.
  • According to the RPOF: “Using the card for personal expenses was not explicitly prohibited, but personal expenses ‘were expected to be paid through a reimbursement, or in some cases directly to American Express,’ Betta said. There was no written policy on the use of the cards, Betta said.” (Statement By RPOF Spokeswoman in Politifact, 3/11/2010)
  • Nonetheless, despite the fact that Marco paid for his personal expenses, he has acknowledged that, “It was a mistake. If I had to do it over again, I'd do it very differently."​​
     
    • As he wrote in An American Son, “Nevertheless, in hindsight, I wish that none of them had ever been charged. When the statements were later leaked during my Senate campaign, they invited press skepticism, confused some of the public and allowed an opponent to suggest the party had paid for personal expenses. As often as it is remarked, it always bears repeating: in politics appearances are as important as reality.”

SPECIFIC CREDIT CARD CHARGES

Newly Released 2005-Late 2006 Statements

Las Vegas Trip: There were two personal charges on this trip – one for hotel, the other for car rental. Rubio was in Nevada for political business and extended his trip for personal reasons, given that he has relatives living there. He paid American Express directly for his portion of the charges he incurred on the trip. These charges were made during the billing period that closed on August 16, 2005, and paid by Rubio during the following billing period. 

​ Rubio paid $1,745.00 in the following billing period while the RPOF paid the $3,343.58 for days he stayed at the same hotel for party business. ​

Iberia Tiles: The largest charge from the previously unreleased statements was a charge of $3,756.24 made on October 16, 2005. A personal payment for this full amount was made the following month by Rubio to American Express on November 15, 2005. Rubio has already written about this charge in 2012. This charge was made during the billing period that closed on October 16, 2005 and paid by Rubio during the following billing period.

​ Rubio paid $3,756.24 to cover the expense in the next billing period.

Braman Honda: There were two personal charges to Braman Honda, a full service auto dealership and repair shop near Rubio’s West Miami home. The first was in the amount of $500 on May 12, 2006; a personal payment was made in this exact amount to American Express within weeks on June 3, 2006. A second charge of $99.45 was made on May 19, 2006 and paid soon thereafter as well.

Hoop It-Kick It-Let: On December 7, 2005 Rubio charged $180 to this children’s sports activity center; the following month, a personal payment for this full amount was made by Rubio to American Express on January 14, 2006.

NOTE: If any media wants a copy of the receipts, they can contact the press office at press@marcorubio.com.

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Democratic National Committee
November 7, 2015

DNC Response to Rubio's Lack of Transparency

DNC Communications Director Luis Miranda released the following statement on Rubio’s lack of transparency today:
 
“Marco Rubio just can't be direct with the American people. After dodging questions at the last debate over his use of a Republican Party of Florida credit card for personal expenses, Rubio promised last week to release long-hidden credit card statements under pressure. Instead, today his campaign issued a press release with an analysis crafted by political operatives, refusing to publicly release the documents and stating they would only share them with reporters who individually requested them.
 
"Today's lack of transparency by Rubio raises serious questions. If he doesn't trust the American public, Marco Rubio can't be trusted with their money or their votes either."
 
·         On Thursday, Rubio told reporters that his Republican Party of Florida credit card use would be made publicly available “in the next few weeks.”
 
·         Today, Rubio put out a press release about his Republican Party of Florida credit card use stating that copies of the receipts would only be sent to “media who request them.”
 
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Rubio for President

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                          Alex Conant/Brooke Sammon
November 7, 2015                                               

Sunday Shows Agree The Am-Ex Card Is A “Non-Issue”

“If this is all they have to use against Rubio, then they’re going to have to keep looking."
- The New York Times' Jonathan Martin


CHUCK TODD: “Marc, you had the Marco Rubio story that Hugh just brought up. And it does go to the -- the head scratcher there was it was like a non-issue but what took him so long?”

MARC CAPUTO: “There's a few things that took them so long. One, Rubio in 2010, first batch of his credit cards got released, credit card statements through the Republican Party of Florida got released on the behest of then-Governor Charlie Crist who was running against him in the Senate. And they made the calculation in 2010 like look, these are private statements and I'm just going to take the hit. Years later, they had the luxury of knowing that when he runs for president they're going to have time to analyze his other statements and then when they analyze those statements and put them together and pull all the bank statements they realized, ‘Oh, my God, there's not much here.’ There's only $65,000 in spending over two years as the head of the Florida House campaigns, which is not a lot of money. So what they did was they made the calculation that we're going hold off until the appropriate time and we’re going to let the Donald Trumps of the world say this is going to be a disaster.”

CHUCK TODD: “It was a setup.”

MARC CAPUTO: “I think it was a trap.”

...
MARC CAPUTO: “That was part of it. I honestly think it's part of the Marco Rubio strategy. I put it in my story that I wrote. Is that when you look at the hype that built it up, and then you look at the expenses, you really have to go out of your way to make it look like a scandal.”
THE BOSTON GLOBE’S MATT VISER: “The issue with the credit card there was nothing scandalous, it doesn't appear, in these charges.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES’ JONATHAN MARTIN: “If Jeb Bush's campaign or if the broader field -- if this is all they have to use against Rubio, then they’re going to have to keep looking. It is pretty thin.”
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: “We saw, Marco Rubio as he started to rise, coming out of that last debate, getting more questions as well, some criticism from Donald Trump over his credit card charges. He's put out now all the charges going back to 2005/2006. As I look at that, I wonder if Jeb Bush is going to repeat the attack his campaign had last time around. It doesn’t seem to be a whole lot there?”

ALEX CASTELLANOS: “Doesn't seem to be a lot there and right now, taking out Marco Rubio doesn't particularly help Jeb Bush. It's still a very crowded field and Jeb is not necessarily next in line.”

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American Bridge 21st Century
November 8, 2015

Rubio Still Has Serious Unanswered Questions On Finances

It's understandable that few believe Marco Rubio when he says he paid personal charges on his Republican Party charge card himself without providing any documentation. After all, Rubio already destroyed his credibility by throwing up smoke about which charges were personal, and which were political.

As The New York Times noted last night:

The campaign also said 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.

The continued drip from Rubio only reinforces the picture in voters' minds that he doesn't know how to handle his personal, Republican donor, or campaign money. His release of two more years of statements does nothing to answer serious questions about whether he used Republican Party funds to finance his personal expenses. And as The Washington Post points out, "The Florida GOP’s policy manual prohibited using the card for personal reasons, according to the audit."


Read more coverage about Rubio's remaining questions here

Washington Post: Inside Marco Rubio’s messy American Express statements “In a news release Saturday, Rubio’s campaign portrayed the issue as resolved, listing eight personal expenses from the newly released statements that it said Rubio had paid. But the campaign did not provide documentation showing those payments… It’s unclear whether the bulk of late fees and penalties were paid personally by Rubio or by the Florida GOP…
 
“Rubio’s management of campaign cash also seemed chaotic. He formed two political committees and doled out money to relatives for services and expenses. He grappled with the handling of credit cards for committee business as he criss-crossed the state campaigning among his legislative colleagues for support to be elected House speaker, Rubio recalled in his 2012 memoir. He named his wife, Jeanette, as treasurer of one of the committees.”
 
 
New York Times: Marco Rubio’s Use of Party Credit Card Reinforces a Picture of Messy Finances “Newly released credit card statements from the years when Senator Marco Rubio was a young Florida legislator on the fast track to leadership show a pattern of falling behind on payments while mingling personal and political spending, disclosures that reinforce the image of a politician who has long struggled with messy finances, at home and in his career…
 
“Like any monthly statement, these stop short of laying out the details that would provide more explanation, like who was present for a meal and what items were purchased. That missing information makes it difficult, if not impossible, to independently corroborate which purchases were personal and which were political. The campaign also said 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.”
 
 
Tampa Bay Times: Marco Rubio campaign releases previously undisclosed GOP credit card statements “All [personal charges] were repaid by Rubio and not the party, according to the campaign, though it is impossible to corroborate that from the AmEx statements because they don't specify who made the payments…
 
“While Rubio has described some personal charges as a mistake — such as the Iberia Tiles flooring — he also seemed to think it was all right to use the card for personal expenses as long as he later paid the charge. His campaign pointed to a 2010 statement from a state GOP spokeswoman who said, "The (Republican Party of Florida) American Express card is a corporate card and is meant to be used for business expenses, but if personal expenses are charged to the card, the Party trusts that individual cardholders will reimburse the Party for those expenses." But a 2010 independent audit of the card scandal commissioned by the party pointed to an RPOF "Employee Policies & Procedures Manual" that stated the cards were "for RPOF business use only."

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Kevin McAlister
Deputy Communications Director
American Bridge 21st Century