Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis slammed CBS News and the media in general in response to an edited interview by 60 Minutes that implied he was involved in a “pay to play” scheme.
“They cut out everything that showed that their narrative was a piece of horse manure,” the Republican said during a press conference on Tuesday. “I know corporate media thinks that they can just run over people. You ain’t running over this governor. I’m punching back.”
“They cut out everything that showed that their narrative was a piece of horse manure…
I know corporate media thinks that they can just run over people– you ain’t running over this governor. I’m punching back.”@GovRonDeSantis slams the “smear merchants” in the media. pic.twitter.com/TgdawuutBt
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 6, 2021
“These are smear merchants,” DeSantis continued. “This is why no one trusts corporate media. They are a disaster in what they are doing.”
DeSantis and many conservatives on social media have been blasting CBS News over the last few days for omitting the governor’s full explanation to a question about vaccine distribution at Publix grocery stores.
DESANTIS PROHIBITS VACCINE PASSPORTS IN FLORIDA WITH EXECUTIVE ORDER
In the clip aired on 60 Minutes, a reporter asked DeSantis about a large donation he received from the grocer and connects that donation to his decision to give Publix rights to vaccine distribution in South Florida.
Sunday, Sharyn Alfonsi investigates allegations that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made decisions about COVID vaccine distribution favoring wealthy or connected individuals, including a supermarket chain that recently donated to the governor’s PAC. https://t.co/VbVdXJ3xxv pic.twitter.com/6mbxfMdgPg
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) April 2, 2021
Omitted from the clip is DeSantis’s explanation as to how the decision to give Publix that access was made.
“First of all, the first pharmacies that had [the vaccine] were CVS and Walgreens, and they had a long-term care mission, so they were going to the long-term care facilities,” DeSantis said in the unaired portion of his answer to the reporter. “They got the vaccine in the middle of December. They started going to the long-term care facilities the third week in December to do LTCs. So, that was their mission. That was very important, and we trusted them to do that. As we got into January, we wanted to expand the distribution points.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Publix released a statement agreeing with DeSantis and rejecting the 60 Minutes implication that he had done anything illegitimate.
“The irresponsible suggestion that there was a connection between campaign contributions made to Governor DeSantis and our willingness to join other pharmacies in support of the state’s vaccine distribution efforts is absolutely false and offensive,” Publix said.
Jared Moskowitz, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, also slammed the 60 Minutes report.
“I said this before and I’ll say it again,” Moskowitz, a Democrat, tweeted. “Publix was recommended by [the Florida Division of Emergency Management] and [the Florida Department of Health] as the other pharmacies were not ready to start. Period! Full Stop! No one from the Governors office suggested Publix. It’s just absolute malarkey.”
CBS News did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
