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Rubio: Scandals 'Embarrassing for the Country'

Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) called the string of scandals rocking the Obama administration "embarrassing for the country" Tuesday on Fox News, saying the IRS targeting of conservative groups and seizing of Associated Press phone records by the Justice Department were more typical of a third-world country.

BILL O'REILLY: Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Let's take the IRS first, Senator. Do you believe President Obama had anything directly to do with this?

MARCO RUBIO: Well, I don't know if the president did, Bill. I don't have evidence of that. I can tell you that what's become clearly apparent is a culture throughout the federal government, not just the IRS, but the Department of Justice, the State Department, et cetera. We have seen that now through three different incidents that basically use the government as an instrument of political activity, to target your political opponents, to make life difficult for people that are saying things you don't like, to make life difficult for whistleblowers that are saying things about the State Department that you don't like. And I believe that all that comes from the top of any organization. So I think that's where the questions are increasingly leading, and it's embarrassing for the country. These are things you typically see in the third world, from unestablished republics and other places. You don't see that here. That's what's troubling about the recent string of events.

Full interview: