AP Photo Florida gubernatorial candidate on Charlottesville blame: 'I wasn't there'

Florida’s newest Republican candidate for governor, state Sen. Jack Latvala, would not comment Wednesday on whether he believes white supremacists were completely to blame for the violent, racially charged protests in Charlottesville that claimed three lives.

Latvala, the Florida Senate’s budget chief, demurred when asked whether President Donald Trump’s comments on Tuesday were sufficient, after the president apportioned blame for the violence on the “alt-left” as well as neo-Nazis.


“I was traveling yesterday,” Latvala told reporters, after launching his campaign in the Miami-area city of Hialeah. “If I didn’t listen to it, how do I know if he sufficiently did it? All of us who look at this responsibly denounced it. Specifically, what he said yesterday I can’t comment on unless I saw it.”

Latvala began his announcement by holding a moment of silence for Heather Heyer, the liberal activist who was killed when a driver plowed into the protesters, and the two state troopers, H. Jay Cullen and Berke Bates, who died in a related helicopter crash.

The issue of whether Trump adequately denounced neo-Nazis became a major Republican issue in Florida after U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio took to Twitter and rebutted Trump by saying “the organizers of events which inspired & led to #charlottesvilleterroristattack are 100% to blame for a number of reasons.”

Rubio posted six Twitter messages in all and closed with an appeal to Trump.

“Mr. President,you can't allow #WhiteSupremacists to share only part of blame.They support idea which cost nation & world so much pain,” Rubio wrote. “The #WhiteSupremacy groups will see being assigned only 50% of blame as a win. We can not allow this old evil to be resurrected.”

Asked whether the neo-Nazis were 100 percent to blame, Latvala said: “I wasn’t there. I condemn all violence of people that are protesting. If people are peacefully exercising their rights — whether they be white supremacists or whether they be Black Lives Matter folks — they have a right to demonstrate without having a mob attack them.”

“I wasn’t there,” Latvala reiterated. “I’ve heard a lot of different stories about what may or may not have gone down. I’m sure the president and people that are closer to it have a lot more information than I do. I’m involved in what goes on in Florida. I’m sad about what happened. I think the three people who lost their lives were innocent people. Both the cops were just doing their jobs. … Obviously, the young lady, she wasn’t doing anything wrong. That’s who we should be thinking about, not thugs.”

Heather Heyer, 32, was killed, and 19 people were injured Saturday when a car slammed into a crowd of counterprotesters. Later, two state troopers died when their helicopter crashed nearby.

Latvala said he supports the University of Florida’s decision to not allow one of the protest's organizers, Richard Spencer, to speak on campus because the costs of providing security would be astronomical.

“With what’s happened here, those security costs have probably gone up pretty high,” Latvala said.

When asked to clarify whether he was equating Black Lives Matter and neo-Nazis, Latvala said: “I said whoever it might be that’s out there protesting.”

Is that a yes or a no? “I said whoever is out there protesting, and I used a couple — I’m not supporting Nazis,” he replied, walking away from reporters.