Marco Rubio And Jorge Ramos Spar Over Univision Report

By Alex Weprin 

Last week we noted that Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) gave his first interview to Spanish-language network Univision in many months. Rubio and Univision were at odds over a story about the Senator’s brother-in-law, and the way the network pursued it.

In the interview, conducted by Univision’s Jorge Ramos, Rubio says of the incident “I believe it will still remain as a black mark in the history of the Univision Network and of Univision News.”

Rubio argued that  Univision should have called him directly, rather than stake out his family. Ramos responded that the network tried to reach out to him, but was rebuffed. Later on, Rubio added “I was upset by the impact that it had on my mother, who had to see it on the news that she watches every night, but, even further, what upset me was that you did not contact me first.”

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The full transcript of the exchange in question is after the jump. Univision has more on the interview at their Tumblr.

WATCH (Spanish, with English subtitles):

JR: I understand that this bothered you and your family, I understand it perfectly, but the question is as news reporters, the voters don‟t have the right to know what type of relation you had with someone linked to drug traffic if you can get to the vice presidency?

MR: Well, first two things, Jorge. Number one, I believe that, and I‟m going to explain it because what happened with Univision in that case was very unfortunate. I believe it will still remain as a black mark in the history of the Univision Network and of Univision News, and I‟m going to explain to you why. If you had questions, and I say you meaning Univision, about what impact that had on me, they should have called me directly. Unfortunately, that is not what Univision did. Univision called people related to the case, Univision called my sister directly, Univision showed up in front of the house

JR: We looked for an answer from your office.

MR: No, that is not correct. Univision first called my sister, it stationed a team of cameras in front of my mother‟s house trying to capture the cameras, that is, if the story was really about me, they would have contacted me first.

JR: You were 16 years old.

MR: Let me finish, excuse me, Jorge… then all these series of things, but it goes beyond that… later in the headline news of the national news of Univision, I understand that you were not on the air that night, but in the headlines of Univision national news they had the story that it was not about me, it was the personal story of two private citizens who had absolutely nothing to do…

JR: But linked to you.

MR: Well, then, I should have been asked about those links. I would have been pleased to tell you that I had nothing to do with it, I was 16 years old; it had a very negative impact on my family. It was a very sad moment, but you did not do that; you persecuted first my sister and my family directly. What‟s more, it was me who called Univision, Univision did not call me because I thought it was a joke that someone was kidding, or that someone was trying to hurt me…

JR: Now the story is true, you write it, it is there written on page 60.

MR: Correct, but that is not the problem… you did not call me, you called my family, it went beyond that, on the following day on Twitter, a well-known character, they put things like “Marco Rubio has links to drug trafficking” without explaining on Twitter, and later a Univision reporter asked the governor of Florida if I should resign for something that happened over 20 years ago…That is ridiculous…

JR: Is there anything else you want to say about this?

MR: No, I believe that this is, look, over and done with. As I have said in my book, I was upset by the impact that it had on my mother, who had to see it on the news that she watches every night, but, even further, what upset me was that you did not contact me first; I am pleased to talk much about anything that has to deal with my life and how it impacted me, what I didn‟t like is that they went after my family, and I believe that what it teaches us the most because this story should not have been done is because not even the Democratic party has touched that subject, not even the Democrats who, as we well know, are never lacking for excuses to attack me, not even they have touched that subject, I want to leave all of this in the past but I have written it in the book, and I‟m glad you asked me about that.

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