John Avlon says Romney lying about vetting Rubio for VP

CNN contributor and Newsweek columnist John Avlon on Tuesday accused Mitt Romney of lying about vetting Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to be his running mate.

Sources close to the Romney campaign told ABC News on Monday that Rubio was not being vetted, suggesting Romney had no interested in picking him as his vice presidential candidate. But on Tuesday, Romney declared that Rubio was "being thoroughly vetted as part of our process."

"He was trying to clean up a political mess," Avlon said. "Because someone told the truth and it was an unnecessary insult and it was causing real problems for the campaign. This is political."

"So you think he really isn't vetting Rubio?" CNN's Erin Burnett asked.

"Rule number one: Everybody lies," Avlon responded. "This is that going down."

He noted the news was leaked on the day Rubio's book was released, calling it "an intentional shot" at the Florida senator.

Watch video, courtesy of CNN, below: