--- title: Republican Debate: Rubio Asked Audience to Fact-Check Trump description: Google searches increased Thursday after Marco Rubio called for a fact-check during the Republican presidential debate canonical: https://time.com/4238272/rubio-trump-google-it/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-26T02:49:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:28.594Z article:section: Politics og:title: Rubio Asked Debate Audience to Fact-Check Trump on Google og:description: Rubio asked viewers to search for stories about Trump hiring undocumented immigrants og:url: https://time.com/4238272/rubio-trump-google-it/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc84de43f6ea804c0/69887f382dce0169019e7f82/presidential-candidates-donald-trump-marco-rubio-ted-cruz-john-kasich-ben-carson-06.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: TIMEPOL Marco Rubio and businessman Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rubio Asked Debate Audience to Fact-Check Trump on Google twitter:description: Rubio asked viewers to search for stories about Trump hiring undocumented immigrants twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc84de43f6ea804c0/69887f382dce0169019e7f82/presidential-candidates-donald-trump-marco-rubio-ted-cruz-john-kasich-ben-carson-06.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rubio Asked Republican Debate Audience to Fact-Check Trump on Google > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Feb 26, 2016 2:49 AM UTC  Republican presidential candidates Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and businessman Donald Trump participate in a GOP debate in Houston on Feb. 25, 2016. Republican presidential candidates Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and businessman Donald Trump participate in a GOP debate in Houston on Feb. 25, 2016. Mike Stone—Reuters by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Feb 26, 2016 2:49 AM UTC Marco Rubio called for a fact-check during the [Republican presidential debate on Thursday](http://time.com/4236607/republican-debate-cnn-telemundo-marco-rubio/) — and viewers immediately went to Google to do exactly that. Rubio and front-runner Donald Trump had a heated exchange over immigration policy, particularly how each would handle the border. Trump defended his plan to build a wall along the Mexican border, when Rubio quipped that Trump would use illegal labor to build it. “It’s a fact,” Rubio said. “Again, go online and Google it. _Donald Trump_, _Polish workers_. You’ll see it.” Rubio was referencing [a 1990 New York _Times_ article](http://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/13/nyregion/trump-says-he-didn-t-know-he-employed-illegal-aliens.html) that reported Trump used some 200 undocumented immigrants in construction of his infamous Trump Tower. Searches of Donald Trump and Polish workers went up some 300%, according to Google Trends. Rubio and Trump butted heads at Thursday’s debate, as the Florida Senator seeks to become the establishment alternative to Trump. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4238272/rubio-trump-google-it/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4238272/rubio-trump-google-it/"},"headline":"Rubio Asked Republican Debate Audience to Fact-Check Trump on Google","datePublished":"2016-02-26T02:49:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:28.594Z","description":"\"Again, go online and Google it. Donald Trump, Polish workers. 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