UPDATE: 6:52 p.m. CNN reported Monday that some “very senior advisers” were telling Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to end his Republican presidential bid ahead of the Florida primary next week.
“There is a division in his campaign, we are being told, and some very senior advisers are suggesting to him that he’s not going to do well in Florida and that he should get out sooner so that he does not hurt his chances — his political future down the road, whether that’s running for governor, whether that’s being a vice presidential candidate,” CNN correspondent Jamie Gangel reported.
Rubio spokesman Alex Conant went on CNN shortly after Gangel and called her report “utter nonsense.”
“She did not contact the campaign prior to coming on the show last hour before reporting that. It’s absolutely 100% false. CNN is doing a disservice to voters by airing that sort of reporting without even checking with the campaign,” Conant said. “Her sources, whatever they are, have no idea what the internal operations of the campaign are because if she did, she would know that Marco feels confident about Florida.”
Conant asked CNN host Wolf Blitzer, who was reading details of Gangel’s report, to “stop reading that sort of fiction on air.”
Gangel had said that the advisers were also telling Rubio that he could participate in the “stop Trump movement” by allying with rival Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
CNN also reported that Rubio doesn’t expect former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s endorsement, despite several conversations with him.
“Jeb has said he has not made a decision yet, but the Rubio campaign does not think they’re getting the endorsement right now,” Gangel said.
The Florida primary is March 15.
Watch Conant’s comments:
