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Truth Test: Who's bank rolling the new attack ad against Marco Rubio?

The ad says big insurance is funding Rubio
Posted at 6:41 PM, Sep 21, 2016
and last updated 2019-10-07 13:15:13-04

The 'Weaken Us" ad as it's called starts out saying,""He said social security makes us weaker these programs actually weakened us as a people. Marco Rubio wanted to cut social security and Medicare because he said they're bankrupting our country."

Is that true? Our partners at Politifact found Rubio's record on social security is more complicated.

Rubio says he's open to raising the retirement age, he wouldn't make changes for people 55 and older. This ad leaves that out.

The ad goes on,"But that's what politicians say when the insurance industry bankrolls their campaigns. Marco Rubio's taken almost $1 million from the insurance industry which would profit from his privatization plans."

We tracked down the money on this one....and it is true.

The campaign finance records show Rubio has received nearly $1 million from the insurance industry during his political career.

But you know what else is true? His opponent Patrick Murphy has also received big money from big insurance. We pulled the records and found Murphy has taken in $431 thousand from the insurance industry.

We followed the money on who's really behind this attack ad on Marco Rubio. We pulled the donor list and found some pretty big heavy hitters.

George Soros,the hedge fund manager, gave $1 million. Movie Mogul Steven Spielberg wrote a $100 thousand check. Actor Seth McFarland gave $500 thousand. But number 7 on the money list: Patrick Murphy's father. His company, Coastal Construction gave $1 million to the Super Pac that's attacking Marco Rubio.

And how's this for political irony: Guess which group has contributed the most money to both Murphy and Rubio? Retirees! The golden years club has given $10 million to Rubio and $1.5 million to Murphy.