Rubio defends judge from Trump attacks

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is slamming presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump for bringing up the ethnicity of a Hispanic judge who is overseeing a lawsuit against Trump University.

“I think it’s wrong. … He needs to stop saying it,” Rubio, who ran against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, told WFTV in Florida on Monday.

{mosads}Rubio said Judge Gonzalo Curiel is an American and argued Trump is hurting the Republican Party by attacking his heritage.

“I don’t think it reflects well on the Republican Party; I don’t think it reflects well on us as a nation.” 

“That man is an American” @marcorubio defends Judge Curiel against attacks from @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/iEBu62db03

— Christopher Heath (@CHeathWFTV) June 6, 2016

Trump has assailed Curiel, who is handling a class action lawsuit alleging his for-profit real-estate education program was a fraud. He said Curiel is biased against him because of his Mexican heritage.

“He’s a Mexican. We’re building a wall between here and Mexico,” Trump said. “The answer is, he is giving us very unfair rulings, rulings that people can’t even believe. This case should have ended years ago.” 

Curiel was born in Indiana and is the son of Mexican immigrants. 

Rubio joins a long list of Republicans who have distanced themselves from Trump’s rhetoric on Curiel. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and fellow former GOP presidential candidate John Kasich have all spoken out against Trump’s remarks.