This weekend we exposed how CBS 60 Minutes doctored an exchange between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and their reporter in order to scandalize the store Publix, a former donor to DeSantis, getting a big vaccine contract.
In that exchange, which we originally posted in full here, DeSantis explained that after querying big retail pharmacies like Publix and Walmart, that Publix was the only store ready to run with the vaccines. They then did a trial run in three counties before rolling it out to a mega county like Palm Beach County, he met with officials in the county and they chose to go with Publix because the store is everywhere and most seniors live very close to the stores.
Not scandalous whatsoever. But CBS 60 Minutes still tried to scandalize it last night with their hit piece:
Campaign finance reports obtained by 60 Minutes show that weeks before Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced a partnership with Publix grocery stores to distribute the vaccine in its pharmacies, Publix donated $100,000 to his PAC. https://t.co/bS3ZBeET1W pic.twitter.com/BSUlpVbXSP
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) April 4, 2021
After seeing the hit job last night Jared Moskowitz, a former 3-term Democratic state legislature who runs Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, came to Desantis’ defense saying that the Publix recommendation didn’t come from the governor’s office, but came from Florida’s Health Department and his Division of Emergency Management:
@60Minutes I said this before and I’ll say it again. @Publix was recommended by @FLSERT and @HealthyFla as the other pharmacies were not ready to start. Period! Full Stop! No one from the Governors office suggested Publix. It’s just absolute malarkey. https://t.co/obkqYcbrzt
— Jared MASKowitz 😷 (@JaredEMoskowitz) April 4, 2021
As you can see, this isn’t the first time Moskowitz made this statement. He also explained this in early March when the Miami Herald started pushing this nonsense, and his explanation sounds exactly like the explanation DeSantis gave a couple of weeks ago when CBS was hounding him over this fake story.
Why didn’t CBS interview Moskowitz for their show? Why didn’t they talk to him about it beforehand? He’d clearly made his opinion on this known. Because it would have completely derailed their hit job on DeSantis. They want to hurt him because he’s a rising star on the right with presidential aspirations:
If DeSantis were not perceived as a legit 2024 GOP contender for President, 60 Minutes would not be selectively editing footage to make him look bad.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) April 5, 2021
Ben Shapiro agreed:
Lies the media have promulgated about DeSantis because they fear his 2024 candidacy:
1. His willingness to allow local officials to open beaches, etc., would lead to massive death (lie);
2. He artificially deflated death statistics (lie);— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 5, 2021
3. He boosted vaccines for rich allies (lie, he tranched them to the elderly);
4. He allowed the largest grocery chain in Florida to distribute vaccines because he was bribed (lie).— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 5, 2021
The media are damned liars. They are not bad at their jobs. They're very good at their jobs. It's just that their job is not journalism. It's Democratic Party propaganda.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 5, 2021
Things normal people think because the media are damned liars:
1. GA's voter law restricts voter access and is a new form of Jim Crow;
2. DeSantis is both corrupt and dangerous;
3. Hunter Biden is a soulful innocent gone wrong, and the laptop story was Russian disinformation.— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 5, 2021