The story, from correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, suggested that there was a possible link between the donation and the state’s association with Publix stores for vaccine distribution, a serious problem of brutal gambling, if true.
But beyond highlighting public finance records, “60 Minutes” never offered any substantial evidence to support the meaningful claim and link the donation to the partnership.
Following the release of the report, the Democratic director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management and the mayor of Palm Beach County Democratic County responded publicly by saying that no one from DeSantis ’office suggested the partnership with Publix.
In a Sunday night tweet titled “60 Minutes,” Florida Emergency Management Division Director Jared Moskowitz wrote, “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. [Publix] was recommended by [Florida Division of Emergency Management] i [Florida Department of Public Health]. Point! Point!”
“No one from the governor’s office suggested Publix,” Moskowitz added. “It’s just absolute malarkey.”
Palm Beach County Mayor Dave Kerner offered a similar sentiment in a statement Monday.
“I saw the 60-minute segment in Palm Beach County last night and I feel compelled to issue that statement,” Kerner said.
Kerner accused “60 minutes” of reporting “intentionally false” information, saying the program knew DeSantis had met with him and that the county had been the entity to request “expand the state association with Publix “.
Publix also issued a statement criticizing the claim, but the supermarket chain did not mention “60 minutes” by name.
“The irresponsible suggestion that there was a connection between the campaign’s contributions to Governor DeSantis and our willingness to join other pharmacies in support of the state’s vaccine distribution efforts is absolutely false and offensive,” he said. say Monday Publix.
In a statement Monday afternoon, the DeSantis office said, “Florida partnered with Publix because they were ready to administer the vaccine to their pharmacies in a matter of days, while other pharmacies were unprepared.”
“Not having used this partnership with Publix as soon as possible would have been a bad practice,” the governor’s office added, “especially because the state ran to vaccinate as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.”
A spokesman for “60 Minutes” defended the story aired by the magazine.
In a brief statement, the spokesman focused specifically on the criticism received about “60 minutes” for not airing a part of the meeting DeSantis had with Alfonsi at a press conference in which he noted that CVS and Walgreens – under a federal program – were the first pharmacies in the state to distribute vaccines.
“As we always do for clarity, 60 minutes used the part of the governor’s response for 2 minutes that directly addressed the correspondent’s question,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman also said the show asked for a real interview with DeSantis twice, but that he refused.