Rubio Spox Won’t Criticize CNBC Debate: ‘My Boss Obviously Did Very Well’
Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio‘s communications director is not criticizing CNBC’s handling of Wednesday night’s GOP debate––a contest which political pundits said his candidate overwhelmingly won.
“I’m not going to complain about a debate that my boss obviously did very well at,” Alex Conant said Friday afternoon on Fox News, adding later that the moderators’ questions were aimed at fostering personal attacks among the candidates, rather than addressing substantive issues.
Host Gretchen Carlson asked Conant if he or another representative from the Rubio campaign plans on attending Sunday’s reported meeting of the GOP campaigns to discuss how to move forward in the wake of CNBC’s forum that was universally condemned by the candidates and political pundits alike. According to reports, no Republican Party officials will be in attendance. Conant did not say definitively whether a representative from the Florida senator’s campaign would be there.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus announced earlier Friday that the party is suspending its partnership with NBC for a debate in February that was set to be co-hosted by Telemundo, a Spanish-language network which NBC owns.
Some candidates, notably Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), have pinned the blame on the RNC for what they perceive to be a poorly-run primary debate process. But Priebus said Friday that CNBC violated many of the ground rules that were agreed upon beforehand, and accused the moderators of asking “gotcha” questions in an attempt to embarrass the candidates.
Watch the video above, via Fox News.
[h/t TPM]
[Image via screengrab]
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