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Rubio Tells ADL About 'Very Disturbing' Voice Mail His Wife Received

Marco Rubio / AP
May 9, 2017

Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) told the Anti-Defamation League on Tuesday that his wife recently got a "very disturbing" voice mail from a stranger, and the lawmaker stressed that crimes against all different types of people merit urgent attention.

Rubio did not elaborate on the specifics of the threat against Jeanette Rubio, but he said it was "chilling" and delivered with an eerie calmness, according to the Tamp Bay Times.

"And the most disturbing part of his voice mail … was the calmness in which that hateful message was delivered," Rubio said at the Mayflower hotel. "I'm not saying it would have been better. I'm saying it would have probably been less chilling if the person who left that voice mail was angry and screaming and using profanity. This person was making this argument as if it was a legitimate and credible political thought."

He did not elaborate other than to call it "not just eye-opening but chilling."

The Florida Republican spoke of being vigilant against Anti-Semitism but also espoused a broad view that people of all backgrounds should be protected, mentioning Arabs and Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs.

Rubio is currently serving a second term as a senator from Florida. He launched an unsuccessful bid for the 2016 Republican nomination for president, but he was reelected to his Senate seat in November.

The Rubios married in 1998, and they have four children.