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By James Bickerton
News Reporter
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Ron DeSantis savaged Donald Trump as "full of it" and failed to confirm he would back the former president if he wins the 2024 Republican nomination following an address in Tampa, Florida, on Thursday.
The Florida governor accused Trump of backtracking on his past praise for the state over how it handled the COVID-19 pandemic, saying: "He's saying things that are false."
Polling indicates Trump is the favorite to secure the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, having established a firm lead over DeSantis, his closest rival. This potentially sets up a rematch with President Joe Biden, who announced he is seeking a second term in the White House in April.
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Following a speech in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa, DeSantis was asked by Daily Caller reporter Henry Rodgers whether he will "100 percent pledge to support Trump as the GOP nominee" despite "his attacks."
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DeSantis chose not to answer the question directly, responding: "What I would say is this: When you are saying [former New York Governor Andrew] Cuomo did better on COVID than Florida did, you are revealing yourself to just be full of it. Nobody believes that, and you know why I know that? Because I remember in 2020 and 2021, when he [Trump] was praising Florida for being open, saying we did it much better than New York and Michigan and everyone was coming to Florida...he used to say that all the time.
"Now all of a sudden his tune is changing and I just tell people, 'Do you find it credible? Do you honestly find it credible? Would have rather been in New York during COVID under [the] Cuomo regime or would you rather have been in the free state of Florida,' and I probably can count the number of Republicans on my hand in the nation who would have rather been under Cuomo in New York and we know that. These are just frivolous criticisms.
"But in some respects, I think it shows if you have to make that argument, you probably don't have very good arguments because the reality is everything he said about us for years, about how strong we were, how good we were, how we delivered for the state, those happen to be true. And now he's trying to backtrack, because he views he needs to do that, and he's saying things that are false."
A clip of the exchange was shared on Twitter by Ron Filipkowski, an attorney and political commentator who claims to monitor "right-wing extremism" online.
Newsweek has reached out to Trump via the press contact form on his official website for comment.
In a recent campaign video, Trump hit out at DeSantis' handling of the pandemic, saying: "When the Ron 'DeSanctimonious' facts come out, you will see that he is better than most Democrat governors but very average, at best, compared to Republican governors, who have done a fantastic job. Even Cuomo did better. He shut down everything, including the beaches."
During an appearance on Glenn Beck's Fox News program after announcing his campaign bid, DeSantis accused Trump of having "turned the country over to [Dr. Anthony] Fauci in March of 2020, that destroyed millions of people's lives."
Speaking to CBS News, Larry Hogan, the former Maryland governor, described the DeSantis campaign as one of the "worst he has ever seen" and predicted it will soon be over.
Correction 6/23/23 11:45 a.m. ET: This story has been corrected to note DeSantis was responding to a question from Daily Caller reporter Henry Rodgers, not Henry Rogers as originally stated.
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