Democratic Florida Rep. Val Demings applauded a former dashboard manager for the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) who made debunked claims that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis altered coronavirus data to make his COVID-19 response look better at an event in early December.
Rebekah Jones claims she was fired in May 2020 for refusing to change data to cover up the number of COVID-19 outbreaks in the state. Jones then reportedly hacked a government messaging system to tell employees to speak out about the deaths caused by COVID-19. In a video, Jones posted on her Youtube page, she can be seen asking Demings a question, to which the Congresswoman applauds.
The event was hosted by the Leadership Blue Democratic Black Caucus of Florida and took place on Dec. 4.
Jones, a woman who identifies herself as the whistleblower that accused DeSantis of skewing COVID-19 statistics, introduces herself in the video and Demings claps for her. Jones asks Demings what she will do to protect “scientific whistleblowers.” Jones is currently running for Congress.
Demings, who is running for Senate, responded by saying: “Wouldn’t it be a sad day if we need to pass a law that says, ‘one plus one equals two’?”
Demings later says: “We should be electing people who believe in science.” (RELATED: Nearly All Of Pelosi’s Impeachment Managers Supported Impeachment Before Whistleblower Complaint Was Filed)
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The Florida Department of Law Enforcement got a warrant and searched Jones’ home in December. She was charged with a third-degree felony. (RELATED: Val Demings Announces Candidacy For Florida Senate Race Against Marco Rubio)
Fact-checkers investigated Jones’ claims on rigging the books on COVID-19 they discovered no significant issues with Florida’s reported data, the Washington Post reported.
DeSantis told reporters that Jones is “not a data scientist” and said that she was putting false data on the coronavirus portal.
The Daily Caller reached out to Demings’ office about her applause for Jones and if she would be supporting her bid for Congress, to which they did not immediately respond. Demings is running for Republican Sen. Marco Rubio’s for his Senate seat.