Cruz showers Rubio with praise

He added that “any Republican president would be a fool” not to pick from the field of presidential candidates to fill out an administration. He declined to say what he would do with the estimated 11 million immigrants in the country illegally, but accused Rubio of joining with Democrats to support “amnesty”.

If Cruz’s position was unclear in 2013, he’s clarified it since, saying during Tuesday night’s debate that he hasn’t and “doesn’t intend” to support a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants.

“That is utter nonsense”, Cruz said of Rubio’s charge while talking to reporters in Las Vegas. “I oppose amnesty. I oppose citizenship”.

“For the first time in five debates, Senator Rubio publicly admitted not only did he support Obama and Schumer’s amnesty but he still supports amnesty and citizenship today”, Cruz said Thursday – highlighting a Rubio stance that is anathema to the GOP’s conservative base. One of those would have supported legalization, but banned a pathway to citizenship.

“Proponents of the Gang of Eight were being hypocrites”. At the time, Cruz said that his amendment was created to help the bill pass. However, he has recently cast his amendment as a “poison pill”, created to keep the bill from passing.

The Fox News which conducted the national poll said all interviews for the new poll were done since December 15 Republican presidential debate in Las Vegas. His voters also are by far the least likely to say they’re going to change their minds. Earlier in the day, Cruz’s campaign dispatched one of its highest-profile surrogates in Iowa – evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats – to try to put Rubio in his place.

Cruz said that both he and Rubio campaigned for the Senate saying they would fight amnesty but Rubio reversed course once he made it to Washington. “Those decisions have consequences”. “A guy like that should not be the front-running candidate of our great party – that is not how we win”. “I think that deeply hurts his credibility with Iowans as they evaluate who they can trust as president to do what he said he would do”. But it gave Cruz a new ally in the immigration wars, with Cuccinelli alleging Friday onstage in Richmond that some are trying to “muddy the waters” over Cruz’s voting record.

The Gang of Eight was a bipartisan group of senators who in 2013 crafted a compromise immigration reform bill. That’s because history tells a straightforward tale, according to Cruz’s campaign: Cruz led the fight against the Gang of Eight bill, while Rubio’s fingerprints are all over it.

“Now, Marco Rubio is a friend of mine he is a wonderful communicator, he’s a charming individual he’s very well liked”, Cruz said.