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Now that there’s an alleged recording of comments Donald Trump made about his immigration policy, off-the-record, to the New York Times, perennial runners-up Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are campaigning on it, and hard.

BuzzFeed first reported the existence of the recording, which apparently captured an off-the-record discussion wherein Trump admitted the extreme views he’s espoused on immigration are actually more flexible than he’s let on.

Cruz, less than two hours after the story first appeared on BuzzFeed, gave a press conference calling on Trump to ask the Times to release the tape.

“Now that’s been reported, the New York Times apparently has this on tape, but it was an off-the-record tape. And so the New York Times has said they will not release the tape unless Donald gives them permission to do so,” Cruz said, before asking that the story wrap up in time to help his own campaign. “I call on Donald, ask the New York Times to release the tape, and do so today before the Super Tuesday primary.”

Rubio too called on Trump to prove he really believes what he says about immigration, a lack of consistency that, if true, nonetheless hasn’t seemed to hurt Trump in the past.

Trump has, so far, not responded.


Contact the author at gabrielle@gawker.com.