CNN host Brianna Keilar went after Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday for taking part in the festivities surrounding Bike Week in Daytona Beach, Florida.
During her broadcast of “CNN Newsroom,” Keilar was interviewing Miami Beach police chief Richard Clements about the ongoing challenges he is facing with spring break crowds. She mentioned DeSantis and said he was setting a bad example for others. (RELATED: What’s ‘The Science’ For Why Vaccinated Americans Shouldn’t Travel? Fauci Can’t Find An Answer)
“We saw pictures over the weekend of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at Daytona Bike Week. He’s not wearing a mask. He is certainly very close physically to other people who are not wearing masks,” Keilar said while displaying pictures of DeSantis drinking a beer with a group of fellow party-goers.
“Does this make things more difficult as your officers are facing — I mean they’re facing violence, they’re facing resistance to people who … want to behave like the governor’s behaving,” she continued.
Clements did not mention DeSantis, instead noting that his department was seeing an increase in people coming to Florida and not wearing masks. In turn, he said, the department has experienced a high number of coronavirus infections and exposures within his police force—a cause for concern.
“So we’re still taking this seriously. We don’t — we obviously don’t want to see anymore in our ranks contract the virus. And again some of those infections, at least as far as my office is concerned, have been very serious,” he concluded.
DeSantis attended the Bike Week event on Friday after stating in a press conference that “there are no lockdowns in Florida.” He has received both criticism and praise for his approach to handling the coronavirus pandemic and leading one of the first states to reopen its economy. In February, he blasted President Joe Biden’s administration over reports they were considering a domestic travel ban on Florida due to coronavirus variants found in the state.