CBS Republican debate: news and updates

Donald Trump finally made some bold and provocative claims that were largely true, and the Republican Party finally closed ranks to attack him.

Saying Mexican immigrants are rapists didn’t do it. Calling for a return of torture didn’t do it. Calling for a ban on Muslim immigration didn’t do it. Raising questions about Barack Obama’s status as an American citizen didn’t do it. Pretending that thousands of Muslims in New Jersey cheered 9/11 didn’t do it.

Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz had a Spanish-off at the Republican primary debate in South Carolina on Saturday night.

Marco Rubio (whose parents are Cuban) accused Ted Cruz (whose father is Cuban) of not understanding something he’d said on Univision in Spanish. Cruz interrupted Rubio — in Spanish — to make his point.

Donald Trump said something bizarre even by Trump standards on Saturday night: He stood on a Republican debate stage and seemed to defend Planned Parenthood.

It was a qualified defense. Trump said that Planned Parenthood does “wonderful things” for women’s health, but not when it comes to abortion, and he balked at Ted Cruz’s suggestion that Trump “supports” the organization.

Something very peculiar happened at the Republican debate on Saturday night: When Donald Trump talked, the audience booed. Yet when Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and even John Kasich talked, they got loud cheers and applause.

This happened again and again. It even led a spike in Google searches for “Why are people booing?”

Donald Trump accused George W. Bush of failing America on 9/11 — in an ugly exchange with Jeb Bush during Saturday night’s Republican debate.

Trump started the fight with Bush, calling him out for his vague answer on the Iraq War last year.

John Dickerson fact-checked Sen. Ted Cruz at the Republican debate Saturday night. The audience didn’t love it.

Here’s what happened. Republican candidates — including Sen. Ted Cruz — think President Barack Obama should leave the nomination of Justice Antonin Scalia’s successor to the next president. So Dickerson asked if Cruz would be willing to abide by the same restriction himself.