The press director for Florida Gov. and GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is pushing back on Kari Lake’s disparaging remarks regarding Florida’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
DeSantis’ 2024 campaign’s rapid response director, Christina Pushaw, accused Lake of spreading “completely insane lies” after comparing DeSantis’ response to COVID to that of Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA).
Newsom is known for taking draconian measures during the COVID pandemic — including forcing long-term school and business closures and imposing mask and vaccine mandates.
Lake, whom some say is vying for a vice-presidential position with GOP front-runner Donald Trump, made her comments during a recent podcast interview with Patrick Bet-David.
“DeSantis took a page out of Gavin Newsom’s playbook,” Lake claimed. “Despite what he says, he shut the beaches down, he did force vaccines, he did force face masks on our kids.”
A skeptical Bet-David pushed back: “DeSantis forced vaccines on kids?”
Kari responded: “He forced vaccines on people, on workers, he forced face masks on children. And he was for all that, DeSantis was for all that.”
Pushaw summarized the feud in a post on X: “For the record, Kari Lake started this by telling completely insane lies about @RonDeSantis’ Covid response on @PBDsPodcast.”
Pushaw added: “As soon as she started taking the heat for lying, she posted this telling us it’s time to move on from COVID. Yeah, not happening.”
Pushaw also asked Lake to explain why former President Trump awarded Dr. Anthony Fauci a Presidential Commendation.
“Kari if you’re reading this on your burner, please ask Trump why he gave Fauci an award on his last day in office,” Pushaw wrote:
Pushaw also reposted an X post from a Florida resident: “I lived in Florida during much of COVID, took my daughter to the open beaches and never once put her in a mask. I don’t care what you think of Kari Lake—what she said here is false.”
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