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‘Absolutely false and offensive’: Publix slams CBS ‘60 Minutes’ segment on COVID vaccine rollout in Florida

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CBS’s “60 Minutes” is receiving backlash after airing a segment Sunday night about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis‘s vaccine distribution partnership with Publix grocery stores.

The segment revealed that the Governor partnered with Publix grocery stores, the largest grocery store chain in the state, to distribute vaccines after they donated a total of $100,000 to his political action committee in the weeks leading up to the deal’s announcement. The segment also suggested that DeSantis directed vaccines towards wealthy communities, with Florida’s poorer communities being left behind.

However, Publix slammed the “60 Minutes” segment in a statement, calling the accusation “absolutely false and offensive.”

“The irresponsible suggestion that there was a connection between campaign contributions made to Governor DeSantis and our willingness to join other pharmacies in support of the state’s vaccine distribution efforts is absolutely false and offensive,” Publix said. “We are proud of our pharmacy associates for administering more than 1.5 million doses of vaccine to date and for joining other retailers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia to do our part to help our communities emerge from the pandemic.”

Former Democratic Florida State Representative Jared Moskowitz said the allegations that there was a connection between the supermarket’s campaign contributions and the partnership to administer vaccines was “absolute malarkey.”

“@60Minutes I said this before and I’ll say it again. @Publix was recommended by [FL Division of Emergency Management] and [Florida Dept. Health] as the other pharmacies were not ready to start,” Moskowitz tweeted. “Period! Full Stop! No one from the Governor[‘]s office suggested Publix. It’s just absolute malarkey,” Moskowitz tweeted.

“60 Minutes” also aired footage of reporter Sharyn Alfonsi confronting DeSantis at a press conference last month over the donation report.

“Publix, as you know, donated $100,000 to your campaign,” Alfonsi began in the clip. “And then you rewarded them with the exclusive rights to distribute the vaccination in Palm Beach –“

“First, of all what you’re saying is wrong,” DeSantis replied.

“How is that not pay for play?” Alfonsi then asked.

“That’s a fake narrative,” DeSantis replied. “I met with the county mayor, I met with the administrator, I met with all the folks at Palm Beach County and I said, ‘Here’s some of the options: We can do more drive-thru sites, we can give more to hospitals, we can do the Publix.’ And they said, ‘We think that would be the easiest thing for our residents.”

The Daily Wire reported that “60 Minutes” “deceptively edited the interaction to remove nearly the entire portion” of DeSantis’ response to Alfonsi’s accusation.

A.G. Hamilton also noted that “60 Minutes” cut out “several minutes” of DeSantis’s response where he talks about meeting with other retail pharmacies but Publix was the “first one to raise their hand.”

OANN’s Jack Posobiec called out “60 Minutes” for their biased reporting on political donations.

“If you are mad about Publix donating $100G to Ron DeSantis wait till you hear about Big Pharma,” Posobiec tweeted.

“A Publix heir personally donated 100k to DeSantis. Big Pharma donated millions to Joe Biden and tens of millions more to Congress. You won’t see this on @60Minutes,” Posobiec continued.

“60 Minutes has it completely backwards. It would have been a scandal if DeSantis refused to work with Publix which is the most common supermarket found in Florida (the state with the most seniors). Not the other way around.”

“60 Minutes” has yet to comment on the edited exchange.

Follow Annaliese Levy on Twitter @AnnalieseLevy

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Elections

Trump, Rep Biggs: invoking the Alien Enemies Act to enable widespread deportation will ‘be necessary’

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At a recent rally in Iowa, former President Donald Trump promised that if elected again in 2024, he would invoke the Alien Enemies Act to enable widespread deportation of migrants who have illegally entered the United States. Since President Joe Biden took office in January of 2021, over 6 million people have illegally entered the country.

Republican Representative Andy Biggs from border state Arizona, which is among the states suffering the greatest consequences from the Biden administration policies, lamented that Trump’s suggestion will be “necessary.”

Speaking on the Just the News, No Noise” television show, Biggs stated “[I]t’s actually gonna have to be necessary.” Biggs then added his thoughts on how many more people will continue to cross the border under Biden: “Because by the time Trump gets back in office, you will have had over 10 million, in my opinion, over 10 million illegal aliens cross our border and come into the country, under the Biden regime.”

“And so when you start deporting people, and removing them from this country, what that does is that disincentivizes the tens of thousands of people who are coming,” Biggs went on. “And by the way, everyday down in Darién Gap, which is in Panama… over 5,000 people a day. [I] talk[ed] to one of my sources from the gap today. And I will just tell you, those people that you’ve seen come come in to Eagle Pass, over 7,000 in a three day period, most of those two weeks ago, were down crossing into the Darién Gap.”

“And those people… make their way up and they end up in the Eagle Pass [Texas], Del Rio area,” he continued. “So if you want to disincentivize them, you remove them from the country, which is why they remain in Mexico policy was so doggone effective at slowing down illegal border crossings.”

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