The first ‘Rumble in the Miami jungle” congressional debate between Congressman Carlos Curbelo (R) and former Congressman Joe Garcia (D) took place at Belen Jesuit Prep School, and the expected political jabs and body blows were thrown and landed by both men throughout the event.
But the real interesting tussle took place after the debate, and it wasn’t between Curbelo and Garcia.
In the red corner we have Daniel Romero, a senior at the all boys preps school.
In the blue corner we have reporter Juan Doe (we don’t know his name) a reporter covering the debate.
In the video below, Romero is seen respectfully interrupting said reporter’s conversation with Garcia to ask him a simple question. According to Romero, who we caught up to after the encounter, he merely wanted to ask him the same question he asked of him during the debate.
Romero said the following:
“In the initial stages of the event, there was a prayer, there was a pledge of allegiance. He (reporter)was on his phone during both. When the debate continued, he was on his phone while both of the candidates were speaking and a lot of members of the student body were very upset because of that.”
Romero, who identified himself as a Carlos Curbelo supporter, added that the reporter began “screaming” at him in the “middle of the event” after being questioned why he did not acknowledge the prayer and pledge.
The video clearly shows an agitated Juan Doe raising his voice at Romero while putting his hand on Romero and nudging him back. Doe told the seventeen-year-old that he was “working” and “on deadline” before telling him to “back off!”
“Back off. Back Off and stop scolding me”-Reporter
We asked Romero if he was trying to stir the pot with Garcia, but Romero said that his questioning of the reporter had nothing to do with Garcia.
No harm, no foul. The reporter was clearly a bit on edge because he had to file his story but should have shown a bit more restraint in dealing with a high school student.