--- title: Marco Rubio Apologized to Donald Trump for Small Hands Jest description: Marco Rubio said he personally apologized to Donald Trump while still on the campaign trail for a swipe he took at the mogul’s “small hands.” canonical: https://time.com/4351498/marco-rubio-donald-trump-small-hands/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-29T14:52:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T09:42:04.499Z article:section: Politics og:title: Rubio Says He Apologized to Trump for Making Fun of His ‘Small Hands’ og:description: "It's not who I am and I shouldn't have done it" og:url: https://time.com/4351498/marco-rubio-donald-trump-small-hands/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt899b093ba2ba9319/69889579f887dc5d05e9610e/marco-rubio-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Celebrities Attend Marco Rubio Announcement At The Freedom Tower og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rubio Says He Apologized to Trump for Making Fun of His ‘Small Hands’ twitter:description: "It's not who I am and I shouldn't have done it" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt899b093ba2ba9319/69889579f887dc5d05e9610e/marco-rubio-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Marco Rubio Says He Apologized to Donald Trump for Making Fun of His ‘Small Hands’  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan May 29, 2016 2:52 PM UTC  U.S. Senator Marco Rubio announces his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on April 13, 2015 in Miami, Florida. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio announces his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on April 13, 2015 in Miami, Florida.Larry Marano—FilmMagic  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan May 29, 2016 2:52 PM UTC Marco Rubio said in a new interview that he [personally apologized to Donald Trump](http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/29/politics/marco-rubio-jake-tapper-interview/index.html) while still on the campaign trail for a swipe he took at the mogul’s [“small hands.”](http://time.com/4247366/republican-debate-donald-trump-small-hands-penis/?iid=sr-link1) The [Florida senator](http://swampland.time.com/2013/02/07/immigrant-son/?iid=sr-link1) reminisced about his failed presidential bid in an interview with CNN that aired Sunday, saying the comment he made during a campaign stop in Virginia “embarrassed” his family and was a mistake. “I actually told Donald—one of the debates, I forget which one—I apologized to him for that,” Rubio said on _State of the Union_. “I said, ‘You know, I’m sorry that I said that. It’s not who I am and I shouldn’t have done it.’ And I didn’t say it in front of the cameras, I didn’t want any political benefit.” Rubio, who also said he plans to support Trump in November, called the presumptive Republican nominee the “ultimate change agent.” “I’ll learn from this,” he said of his campaign, “and whether I run for president again one day or run for something else or do this in the business world, there are lessons I will take from this that will make me stronger and better as a result.” \[[_CNN_](http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/29/politics/marco-rubio-jake-tapper-interview/index.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4351498/marco-rubio-donald-trump-small-hands/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4351498/marco-rubio-donald-trump-small-hands/"},"headline":"Marco Rubio Says He Apologized to Donald Trump for Making Fun of His ‘Small Hands’","datePublished":"2016-05-29T14:52:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:42:04.499Z","description":"\"It's not who I am and I shouldn't have done it\"","url":"https://time.com/4351498/marco-rubio-donald-trump-small-hands/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt899b093ba2ba9319/69889579f887dc5d05e9610e/marco-rubio-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt899b093ba2ba9319/69889579f887dc5d05e9610e/marco-rubio-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Celebrities Attend Marco Rubio Announcement At The Freedom Tower","caption":"U.S. Senator Marco Rubio announces his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on April 13, 2015 in Miami, Florida.","creditText":"Larry Marano—FilmMagic","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4351498/marco-rubio-donald-trump-small-hands/","name":"Marco Rubio Says He Apologized to Donald Trump for Making Fun of His ‘Small Hands’"}}]}] ```