Free Republic

Surging Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio sought to tamp down an escalating controversy Saturday, releasing previously secret records that detailed his use of a Florida Republican Party credit card for personal expenses. The records, which cover a 22-month period in 2005 and 2006, combined with previously disclosed credit card statements, show that Rubio charged more than $22,000 in personal expenses to the card while the account incurred more than $1,700 in delinquency and late fees over a four-year period while he was in the Florida legislature. Rubio has maintained that he paid out of his pocket for any personal expenses...

GOP presidential candidate Marco Rubio said Wednesday he'll release in the next few weeks all of the statements detailing his use of an American Express card he shared with the Republican Party of Florida. Rubio, a former speaker of the Florida House, had the party-issued card from February 2005 to November 2008. During his successful 2010 bid for U.S. Senate, news broke that Rubio had charged items such as grocery bills, plane tickets for his wife and repairs to the family minivan to the card. His spokesman, Alex Conant, said Wednesday that those expenses were for party business, and that...

As Marco Rubio rises in the polls, his financial past is coming back to haunt him - namely two years of credit card transactions from his time as speaker of the Florida House, the details of which remain a mystery. During the GOP presidential hopeful's 2010 Senate race, the Tampa Bay Times and the Miami Herald obtained his 2006 and 2007 credit card statements, which allegedly showed that he regularly charged personal expenses - including a four-day, $10,000 family reunion and repairs to his family minivan, according to the Times. The investigation also found he failed to disclose $34,000 in...