Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio brawled over national security, and it turned into a free-for-all
Rubio directly said Cruz was wrong to vote to curb the NSA's authority to collect such data earlier this year, in the wake of the terror attacks in San Bernardino, California.
"We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools, and that tool we lost - the metadata program - was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal," Rubio said.
Cruz countered by saying Rubio was spreading "knowingly false" information about his record and the bill he voted for, the USA Freedom Act. He cited conservative radio host Mark Levin to claim Rubio's attacks against him were false and "Alinsky-like," a reference to Saul Alinsky, a community organizer with ties to President Barack Obama.
"Marco knows what he is saying isn't true," Cruz said. "What he knows is that the old program covered 20% to 30% of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100%. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism and he knows that's the case."