'This is the lie that Ted's campaign is built on': Crowd boos during testy Marco Rubio exchange with Ted Cruz
The back-and-forth followed a segment during which Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly confronted both candidates over their past statements and positions on immigration reform.
Cruz argued that Rubio had stood with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York), then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and President Barack Obama by co-sponsoring a 2013 immigration bill that included a pathway to citizenship for millions of people living in the country illegally.
"When that battle was waged, my friend Sen. Rubio chose to ... support amnesty," Rubio said.
Rubio took exception to that characterization. He referred to earlier comments from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), who questioned Cruz's "authenticity" while lamenting that other candidates were not as conservative as him.