New Mexico governor's office blasts Trump's "pot shots"
Following Donald Trump's Tuesday night criticisms of New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, the Republican governor's office is out with its own scathing critique of the presumptive GOP nominee.
"The Governor will not be bullied into supporting a candidate until she is convinced that candidate will fight for New Mexicans," Mike Lonergan, Martinez's press secretary, told CBS News in an email. "Governor Martinez doesn't care about what Donald Trump says about her -- she cares about what he says he will do to help New Mexicans."
Lonergan added that Martinez, who is also the chairwoman of the Republican Governors Association, was "disappointed that she didn't hear anything about" such proposals during Trump's Tuesday rally in Albuquerque.
While protests raged outside of the Albuquerque Convention Center last night, Trump leveled attacks at the state's chief executive, despite her position as with Trump's own party.
"Since 2000, the number of people on food stamps in New Mexico has tripled," Trump told a raucous crowd. "We have to get your governor to get going. She's got to do a better job. Okay? Your governor has got to do a better job. She's not doing the job."
But Martinez, on the receiving end of Trump's criticisms after she declined to attend the rally citing a busy schedule, dismissed the comments, per her press secretary.
"Apparently, Donald Trump doesn't realize Governor Martinez wasn't elected in 2000, that she has fought for welfare reform, and has strongly opposed the President's Syrian refugee plan," Lonergan said, touting Martinez's conservative policy bona fides. "The pot shots weren't about policy, they were about politics."
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a former rival of Trump's who had received Martinez's endorsement while he was a presidential candidate, also defended Martinez.
Martinez, the nation's first Hispanic female governor, has been a vocal critic of the billionaire's inflammatory remarks on Mexican immigrants.