DeSantis Hits AP Hard on National TV Over Regeneron 'Hit Piece'

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reiterated his position that the recent Associated Press (AP) story about one of his top donors investing in the Regeneron COVID treatment drug that the governor was promoting across the state, was nothing more than a “partisan hit piece.”

Appearing on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” Gov. DeSantis dressed down the AP, reminding viewers that the Regeneron antibody drug was completely bought up by the federal government in 2020, and was being distributed to Floridians at no cost to them.

“It was clearly a partisan hit-piece. They are trying to act like this is not an effective treatment—it was a bizarre theory to boost Regeneron's stock price—but as you know Sean, President Trump bought out all the Regeneron last year. It has already been paid for by the federal government, what we take down from Florida and give to patients, there’s no charge for it, it has no financial incentive at all, all we are trying to do is help people,” stated Gov. DeSantis

DeSantis also said that many Floridians who were hospitalized over the past several months were not aware of the treatment, and may not have had to been hospitalized if they were able to receive the antibody treatment.

But DeSantis wasn’t done with his beatdown of the AP, as the governor reiterated his claim that the media outlet was “trying to create a false narrative” that could sway some Americans from refusing to take the antibody test because they bought into that “false narrative.”

“Now what the AP by trying to create a false narrative, is some people may believe the narrative and then think that is not a viable treatment for them, so if they’re infected, they will not go seek a monoclonal antibody and that will ultimately increase their risk of hospitalization, so the AP knew what they were doing, they wanted to do a political hit on me, and the fallout from that is that there will likely be people who decline life-saving treatment,” added DeSantis.

DeSantis then criticized the AP attempt to come across “like they were the victim” when his spokeswoman Christina Pushaw called them out on “their hit piece.”

“The days of corporate media being able to smear people with impunity, and conservatives do nothing, those days are over. In Florida, we are fighting back with the truth, and we are going to hold you accountable when you are peddling false partisan narratives,” concluded DeSantis

Meanwhile, some 17 antibody treatment centers with the capability of treating 300 patients a day, are now open across the state.