Rubio Spokesman Trashes CNN Report On Air, Poses Tough Question to Host: 'How Did That Happen?

Marco Rubio spokesman Alex Conant slammed CNN for a report it aired Monday, telling host Wolf Blitzer it was "fiction" and demanding to know how the reporter was cleared to run the story without first asking the campaign for comment.

CNN reporters Jamie Gangel and Tal Kopan reported that some Rubio advisors think the Florida senator should exit the campaign ahead of his home state primary due to worries he could lose. The entire story rested on anonymous campaign sources.

Conant adamantly disputed the story during an afternoon appearance on "The Situation Room."

"Wolf, Jamie's report was utter nonsense," he said. "She did not contact the campaign prior to coming on the show in the last hour to report that. It is 100 percent absolutely false."

"I think CNN is doing a disservice to voters by airing that sort of reporting without even checking with the campaign," he continued. "Her sources, whatever they are, have no idea about the internal deliberations on the campaign are. Because, if she did, she would know that Marco feels confident about Florida."

When Blitzer read from the report, Conant asked him to not do it again.

"Wolf, I have a lot of respect for you, but I am going to ask you to stop reading that sort of fiction on air," he told the host. "It is not true at all. ... That is fiction and CNN should stop reporting it."

The Rubio spokesman demanded to know how the report was published online and reported on air without the network first asking for comment.

"CNN hadn't asked us a comment before that. I mean, CNN went to air with a report without asking a campaign for feedback. Who does that?" Conant asked. "How did that happen? Hod did that get to air without someone asking someone for comment?"

Blitzer said he assumed the campaign had been contacted, something Conant disputed.

"I have not talked to anyone that she spoke to," he said.

A spokesperson for CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TheBlaze.

—

Follow the author of this story on Twitter and Facebook:

Follow @oliverdarcy