Marco Rubio on Monday blasted Republican presidential rival Ted Cruz after his campaign distributed a story that incorrectly portrayed Rubio as dismissing the Bible.
“Every single day something comes out of the Cruz campaign that’s deceptive and untrue, and in this case goes after my faith,” Rubio told reporters in Las Vegas.
{mosads}“This is a pattern now and I think we’re now at a point where we start asking for accountability,” Rubio continued, acknowledging an apology from a Cruz spokesman.
“Who’s going to be fired when Ted Cruz is president? Because his campaign now has repeatedly done things that they have to apologize for and no one’s ever held accountable,” Rubio said.
“Who’s gonna be held accountable for making up this video?” Rubio asked.
Cruz communications director Rick Tyler issued an apology to Rubio late Sunday after he shared a story on social media that appeared to show the Florida senator dismissing the Bible.
The story had a video of Rubio walking through a hotel lobby before stopping by a Cruz staffer, remarking he had “a good book.” The video subtitle quoted Rubio as adding, “Not many answers in it.”
Rubio’s campaign uploaded a corrected version of the video, with subtitles showing Rubio as saying, “Got a good book there. All the answers are in there.”
“I assumed wrongly that the story was correct,” Tyler, Cruz’s spokesman, wrote in a public apology posted to Facebook. “I’ve deleted the post because I would not knowingly post a false story.”
Tyler also called for the original video to be taken down during an appearance on Fox News. Rubio and Cruz are battling for support behind Donald Trump on the eve of Tuesday’s caucus in Nevada.