Donald Trump once called Marco Rubio “Mark Zuckerberg’s personal senator” for supporting H-1B visas, the immigration program that makes it easier for companies like Facebook to hire foreign professionals.
Trump Denied Calling Rubio Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘Personal Senator’ -- Even Though He Did
Trump initially claims, “I never said that.”
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
But when CNBC moderator Becky Quick asked Trump to explain the comment during Wednesday’s Republican presidential candidates debate, he flatly denied making such a remark.
“I never said that,” Trump said. “I don’t know where you got it, someone wrote it.”
Turns out, the statement appears on Trump’s own website, where the candidate laid out his position on immigration reform. Trump criticized Rubio’s willingness to expand the visa program, which has benefitted technology companies like Facebook along with many other Silicon Valley companies, which are always hungry for engineering talent.
Quick circled back to Trump to press the billionaire once again on the statement and his views on the issue.
“I’m in favor of people coming into this country legally,” Trump said, sounding almost defeated. “You can go with visas, you can go with work permits.”
A fuller explanation of Trump’s views on the program appear on the campaign site, including his support for requiring companies that hire workers from outside the U.S. to pay higher wages.
Here’s the relevant passage from Trump’s site:
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
