Call it poor man vs. rich man.
Marco Rubio, the Horatio Alger candidate in the presidential field, is hitting back at bombastic billionaire Donald Trump over — what else — personal finance skills.
After listening to days of Trump blasting him over his use of a party-issued credit card when he was in the Florida Legislature, the U.S. senator from West Miami fired back Thursday.
“I find it ironic that the only person running for president that’s ever declared bankruptcy — four times in the last 25 years — is attacking anyone on finances,” Rubio told reporters in Concord, N.H., after filing paperwork to get on the state’s presidential ballot.
Trump’s Atlantic City casinos filed for bankruptcy four times. At the CNBC presidential debate last week, the real estate mogul said he used the bankruptcy laws “of the country to my benefit,” just as countless other businessmen have done. He also blamed economic circumstances beyond his control.
“Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy,” Trump said.
Trump and other candidates have increasingly questioned Rubio’s personal finances as the senator has begun rising in the polls. Foreclosure proceedings were initiated in 2010 on a house in Tallahassee co-owned by Rubio, and the senator had to pay a financial penalty for liquidating a retirement account last year.
Trump told reporters at a news conference Tuesday that Rubio lives beyond his means and “is a disaster with his credit cards.”
Rubio, who often touts himself as the son of a maid and a bartender, admitted using a party-issued credit card when he was Speaker of the Florida House for some personal expenses but said he did nothing improper and covered those expenses that were not related to the party.
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