Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio of Florida said he regrets going against his core beliefs and attacking rival Donald Trump on a personal level.
“At the end of the day, you know it’s not something I’m entirely proud of,” the Florida senator told MSNBC during a town hall Wednesday, NBC News reported. “My kids were embarrassed by it, and if I had to do it again, I wouldn’t.”
He repeated the regret in an interview with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly at his rally in Hialeah, Florida, Wednesday evening, CNN reported.
“I want my kids to be proud of me, and I don’t think it reflected well on my faith,” Mr. Rubio said. “That’s not who I am.”
CNN said the senator has scaled back the amount of attacks on Mr. Trump in his stump speech after seeing a significant drop in support since going negative one week before Super Tuesday. He said he still stands by his criticism of Mr. Trump’s record and said it was “appropriate” to point out that the mogul is “portraying himself as something he’s not.”
Mr. Rubio had previously defended his negative attacks in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash over the weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CNN reported.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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