Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday evening that he will be pardoning Floridians charged with violating COVID-19 mask or social distancing restrictions.
The Florida Republican broke the news on “The Ingraham Angle” to Mike and Jillian Carnevale, gym owners who face jail time for allowing their members to workout maskless. (RELATED: Trump Would ‘Certainly’ Consider DeSantis As 2024 Running Mate: ‘A Lot Of People … Love That Ticket’)
“I’m glad you have Mike and Jillian on, and I’m also glad to be on, to be able to say that effective tomorrow morning, I’m going to sign a reprieve under my constitutional authority,” the governor said. “So that will delay the case for 60 days against both of them and then when our clemency board meets in the coming weeks we will issue pardons not only for Mike and Jillian but for any Floridian that may have outstanding infractions for things like masks and social distancing.”
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“The fact is, it’s not even right to be wearing masks when you are exercising, the World Health Organization advises against it,” DeSantis said. “It is not healthy for people to be doing that in the first place so it was a bad restriction, but these things with health should be advisory, they should not be punitive and we are happy to use our constitutional authority.”
“I think they have been treated poorly and fortunately they’ve got a government that cares,” DeSantis said. He emphasized that Florida must “move forward as a state.” (RELATED: Over A Year Into The Pandemic, Politicians Are Still Getting Caught Ignoring Their Own COVID Restrictions)
“We are the oasis of freedom, that’s why Florida is doing well,” DeSantis said. “Let’s build off that and let’s not go backwards on any of this stuff.”
DeSantis did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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