Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had stern words for a reporter who questioned the potential Republican presidential candidate about allegations made against him by a terrorist — a former Guantanamo Bay detainee.
“No. No. Not at all,” DeSantis reportedly said when asked if he witnessed any instances where Al Qaeda terrorists were allegedly force fed. “That’s BS. Totally BS.”
DeSantis had turned and begun speaking with another reporter when the initial reporter called out that the former detainee claimed that DeSantis was present. DeSantis lost no time firing back. “Who said that? How would they know me?” DeSantis responded. “Okay, think about that. Do you honestly believe that’s credible? So this is 2006, I’m a junior officer, do you honestly think that they would have remembered me from that? Of course not.”
“They’re just trying to get into the news because they know people like you will consume it because it fits your pre-ordained narrative that you’re trying to spin,” DeSantis continued. “Focus on the facts and stop worrying about narrative.”
It’s not the first time that DeSantis has addressed the same charge. DeSantis denied the allegation the previous month in an interview with British media personality Piers Morgan. “One of the things they said was that you authorized the use of force-feeding some of the … detainees who were on hunger strike,” Morgan said. “Is that true?”
Did DeSantis provide life-affirming dietary care?
“That’s not true,” DeSantis immediately fired back. “So I was a junior officer, I didn’t have authority to authorize anything. There may have been a commander that would have done feeding if someone was going to die. But that was not something that I would have even had authority to do.”
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.
