Marco Rubio warned fellow Republicans that those who “capitalize politically” on leaked Democratic emails may see the tables turned on them in the future.
“As our intelligence agencies have said, these leaks are an effort by a foreign government to interfere with our electoral process and I will not indulge it,” Rubio told ABC News Wednesday morning. “Further, I want to warn my fellow Republicans who may want to capitalize politically on these leaks: Today it is the Democrats. Tomorrow it could be us.”
“I will not discuss any issue that has become public solely on the basis of Wikileaks,” Rubio said.
Donald Trump has leaned heavily on Wikileaks revelations on the campaign trail, despite assertions from the U.S. intelligence community that the published emails were stolen—from the DNC, Clinton campaign chair John Podesta, and others—by Russian-backed hackers.
“It defies logic,” retired Gen. Michael Hayden, former director of the CIA and the National Security Agency, told the Washington Post, referring to Trump’s refusal to acknowledge Russia’s role in the hacks.
At the second presidential debate, Trump wondered aloud: “Maybe there is no hacking.”
Rubio, who began campaigning for re-election to his Senate seat after losing to Trump in the Republican presidential primaries, has said he would provide a check on a possible Trump presidency.
On Monday night, at a debate against his opponent Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-FL), Rubio forcefully rebuked Trump’s now-frequent claim that the election would be “rigged.”
“We have 67 counties in this state, each of which conduct their own elections,” he said. “I promise you there is not a 67-county conspiracy to rig this election.”
