Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Tuesday sounded off on the CBS “60 Minutes” “hit job” attempt regarding a “pay-to-play” with Publix and COVID-19 vaccines. The Governor passionately shot it down as “wrong” and a “fake narrative.”
DeSantis told FNC’s “Fox & Friends” that CBS’s failure to air a part of his explanation for Publix giving out vaccinations is “precisely” the reason Americans do not trust “corporate media.” He said CBS cut out his full answer “because they know that will blow up their narrative.”
“I think, fortunately … a lot of Americans don’t believe corporate media anymore for precisely this reason. they edited out all of the key facts,” DeSantis emphasized. “I gave a very detailed two-minute response at the press conference. They edited out all of the facts; you just showed some of the facts. There’s even more. I mean, the reason why Palm Beach wanted to do Publix, they have 65 Publix, and 90% of their seniors live within a mile and a half. And so we were in a situation where that was very convenient, and it made a lot of sense. CBS cut that out, and they acted like we weren’t trying to make it widely available. Also, there was no deal with Publix. They are one of the most respected companies in Florida. People love it. It would be malpractice not to use them as a distribution point, but the state never paid them a dime to do any of this. And we also had it in other pharmacies, CVS and Walgreens, from the very beginning, but they were going into the long-term care facilities at that time, so we wanted them to finish the mission.”
He continued, “[H]ere’s the bottom line — in Palm Beach, we’ve done over 275,000 seniors that have gotten shots statewide. We have done 3.5 million seniors that have gotten shots, so we’ve done one of the best jobs in the country at protecting our seniors. The results speak for themselves. But they didn’t want to tell you that because they know that will blow up their narrative.”
According to DeSantis, CBS wanted to “smear” him just because he is an up-and-coming Republican.
“They were looking to do a hit job on me to try to smear me just because I’m in the other party than them,” he advised. “That’s the only reason. You know, they are based in New York. What do they do with the Governor of New York who is in their party? They do puff pieces. They do all of this stuff. Would you rather get a vaccine as a senior in Florida or up in New York? Obviously, we’ve done a much better job protecting seniors.”
“[T]his is partisan corporate media,” he added. “And I think at this point, these people like this reporter, you know, they are basically ambulance chasers with a microphone. They are not trustworthy. They lie. We know they’re lying. They know that we know they’re lying, and yet they lie, and they lie, and they lie.”
Co-host Steve Doocy asked, “Governor, are you saying ’60 Minutes’ has a political agenda to make you look bad, perhaps to neutralize you as an up-and-coming force in the Republican Party?”
“Is the Pope Catholic?” DeSantis replied.
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
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