Cruz: Rubio’s Attacks Are ‘Alinsky-Like’

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) got into a heated argument Tuesday with Cruz calling Rubio’s attacks on him “Alinsky-like.”

At Tuesday’s Republican presidential debate CNN’s Dana Bash asked Cruz about the attacks Rubio made regarding Cruz’s vote for the USA Freedom Act, which restricted the National Security Agency’s cellphone-tracking metadata program. Cruz argued that Rubio’s attacks on him are untrue.

“I would note that Marco knows what he’s saying isn’t true,” Cruz said at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. “Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says the attack ads in the super PAC he’s running are knowingly false and in fact an Alinsky-like attack like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists.”

Rubio argued that Cruz is incorrect and that USA Freedom Act has left America’s national security vulnerable.

“We are now at a time when we need more tools and not less tools,” Rubio said. “That tool we lost, the metadata tool, that was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) weighed in during the heated back and forth and argued that Rubio’s immigration policy is a greater risk to America’s national security than the USA Freedom Act.

“I think Marco gets it completely wrong,” Paul said. “We are not any safer through the collection of all Americans’ records. In fact, I think we’re less safe.” Paul added:

We get so distracted by all the information, we’re not spending enough time getting specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino and might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. Marco has opposed at every point increased security border security for those who come to our country.