Curbelo explains reason he forgave man who tweeted death threat

Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) called for more forgiveness and civility in explaining why he held a press conference with a 19-year-old man who tweeted out a death threat against him.

“If this country doesn’t start healing, it is not going to matter who wins elections. We’re all going to lose eventually.”

Republican @RepCurbelo, who stood beside and forgave a teenager who threatened to kill him on Twitter, tells @ChrisCuomo why he chose forgiveness over fear. pic.twitter.com/2XeybsqWCt

— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) November 3, 2018

“I think healing is the most important thing that can happen in this country. Unfortunately these days all these threats … you got to take them all seriously because you just don’t know. There are some people out there who, either because they’re mentally unstable or because they’re just evil, do want to kill people, and we’ve seen that in a very dramatic way recently,” Curbelo said Friday night on CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time.”

{mosads}“First, I want to understand why it is someone would say something like this or express themselves with so much hate, and secondly, I’d really like to try to turn this into something positive … He explained to me that he had some issues in his personal life that he thinks pushed him to do something like this, and he also talked about the toxicity of our politics and how nasty and negative everything is … I’m really worried about things in our country these days.” Curbelo added. 

The congressman also said he spoke with the Florida attorney general about not charging Pierre Alejandro Verges Castro after he posted “I will kill Carlos Curbelo” on his Twitter page, according to the CBS Miami affiliate. Curbelo explained that Castro would remain silent during the press conference as to not interfere with an ongoing investigation.

The comments come nearly a week after a string of explosive devices were mailed to prominent Democrats and former intelligence officials who were critical of and criticized by the president, and a gunman killed 11 worshipers in a Pittsburgh synagogue.

Critics of the White House were quick to blame President Trump’s rhetoric for creating the atmosphere that produced these acts, but the White House denied any responsibility.