Florida - Friday June 23, 2023: In Tampa Thursday, Governor DeSantis fired back at recent criticism from former President Trump, his chief rival in the race for the Republican Nomination for President.
Trump recently criticized the way Florida handled the Covid crisis, saying even former New York Governor Mario Cuomo handled it better. During a news conference, when asked about the remark, DeSantis fired back saying - “When you are saying that Cuomo did better on Covid than Florida did you are revealing yourself to be full of it. Nobody believes that.”
Florida’s response to Covid crisis has always been one of the biggest selling points on the campaign trial for DeSantis "I remember in 2020 and 2021 when he was praising Florida for being open, saying we did it much better than New York. And he used to say that all the time. Now all of a sudden, his tune is changing. And I would just tell people, do you find it credible?”
The Governor was also asked about a recent complaint filed against him with the Florida Commission on Ethics by a Trump Super PAC alleging he violated campaign rules. Five of the nine members on the commission were appointed by DeSantis. The commission rejected the complaint.
"It’s totally frivolous.," said the Governor. "You know we have staff in the Executive Office of the Governor who in their private time have wanted to do things to be able to help our campaign. And so, they’ve called friends, asked for support. They have every right to do that. They don’t use state resources to do it.”
It was the strongest series of critical remarks made by DeSantis about the former President, whom he has consistently managed to mention, without actually saying Trump’s name.
“These are just frivolous criticisms, but I think it shows if you have to make that argument, then you probably don’t have a good argument," said the Governor.