Bloomberg: Who's Laughing Now? Marco Rubio Mocks New York Times Article on His Finances

Credit: Charlie Spiering /Flikr

By Sahil Kapur, Jun. 12, 2015, Bloomberg

Florida Senator Marco Rubio joked with Republican bigwigs Friday about a recent New York Times article about his past financial struggles, which mentioned that he once spent $80,000 dollars on a "luxury speedboat."

Rubio has disputed that description and he turned it into a joke into before a Utah gathering hosted by Mitt Romney. "My wife and I have been blessed," Rubio deadpanned. "We've even been able to buy a luxury speedboat, cleverly disguised as a family fishing boat." The wisecrack won applause and laughter from the crowd.

"The latest attack by the New York Times and others," Rubio contended, "is that I'm not rich enough to be president."

That story—along with another article the Times ran several days earlier about traffic tickets accrued by Rubio and his wife—has been a boon to the senator's presidential bid, people close to him say. His campaign has been fundraising off the news pieces, and he even gained some sympathy from comedian Jon Stewart.

In Utah, the Floridian took a swipe at Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton over her own finances: "I do not have a family foundation that has raised $2 billion, some of it from foreign entities."

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