Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday that he believed CBS’ “60 Minutes” had intentionally set up coverage of Florida’s vaccine rollout to make him look bad.
DeSantis made a brief appearance on “Fox & Friends” to discuss the issue, and he accused CBS of essentially cutting out all context while claiming that he had offered grocery store and pharmacy chain Publix a “pay to play” deal with regard to distribution of the coronavirus vaccine. (RELATED: ‘They Don’t Believe In Facts’: DeSantis Slams ’60 Minutes’ Segment As ‘Baseless Conspiracy Theory’)
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Brian Kilmeade began the segment by noting that “60 Minutes” is an extremely popular show and has been for quite some time. He then turned to DeSantis, asking, “What are your thoughts when this was the narrative that most of America was seeing?”
“Well, I think fortunately, Brian, a lot of Americans don’t believe corporate media anymore for precisely this reason,” DeSantis replied. “They edited out all the key facts. I gave a very detailed two minute response at the press conference. They edited out all the facts you just showed some of the facts. There’s even more.”
DeSantis went on to note that because Publix was so ubiquitous in Palm Beach, most Florida seniors — who were given priority access to the vaccine because they were the population at greatest risk — lived in fairly close proximity to one.
“Also there was no deal with Publix,” DeSantis continued. “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.”
Cohost Steve Doocy noted that CBS had explained the edited portions of the piece by saying that they always edit for time a clarity, adding, “And they edited your comments to be very clear that you did something sneaky or underhanded.”
Doocy went onto point out the local officials — some of them Democrats — who had criticized CBS for attempting to smear DeSantis.
“If CBS’s story was intentionally false, what were they intending to present?” he asked.
DeSantis asserted that several Democratic officials had offered to speak with CBS — an offer he argued was only declined because their comments would “blow up” the narrative CBS intended to present.
“This is partisan corporate media 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,” DeSantis continued. “They know that we know they’re lying and they lie and they lie and they lie.”
“Governor are you saying ’60 Minutes’ has a political agenda to make you look bad, perhaps neutralize you as an up and coming force in the Republican Party?” Doocy pressed.
“Is the Pope Catholic?” DeSantis shot back.