DeSantis calls out NBC anchor for trying to use false narrative to smear him: 'Don't give somebody 15 minutes of fame'

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) called out NBC News anchor Kristen Welker on Sunday for leveraging criticism from a single person to suggest he is soft on neo-Nazis.

On "Meet the Press," Welker amplified complaints from Florida state Rep. Randy Fine (R), who recently endorsed Donald Trump over DeSantis. Fine said he broke from DeSantis because, in his view, the governor has not done enough to support Jews. Fine claimed DeSantis did not adequately denounce neo-Nazis last year and did not do enough to build a Holocaust memorial that Fine wanted.

Politico, meanwhile, noted that some Florida Republicans saw Fine's decision to break from DeSantis as "petty" and "disloyal."

Still, Welker forced DeSantis to respond to Fine's criticism, particularly his complaint that DeSantis failed to denounce sufficiently a group of neo-Nazis that gathered in Tampa last year.

DeSantis told Welker that Fine is "just trying to get his 15 minutes of fame" before reciting the laundry list of pro-Jewish actions he has taken as governor. But Welker was not satisfied and even suggested that DeSantis intentionally did not speak out against the neo-Nazis.

"Your state has heard from both Marco Rubio and Rick Scott condemning those neo-Nazi protests," Welker said. "Why didn't you speak out? Why didn't you use your voice to say that you're not going to stand for that?"

"Of course we condemn that. Just look at everything that we've done in terms of our policies —" DeSantis responded.

"But you didn't at the time, Governor," Welker interrupted. "You didn't at the time, according to Randy Fine. According to Randy Fine, you did not at the time —"

It was at that point that DeSantis had enough of Welker's attempts to use the criticism of a single person to smear him, telling Welker it's unacceptable to weaponize against him the narrative that Fine single-handedly concocted.

"He's just trying to create a name for himself, so that's all nonsense. Everybody knows that's nonsense," DeSantis said.

He then instructed Welker, "Don't give somebody 15 minutes of fame just because they're letting you try to do a preferred narrative just to hit me. It's nonsense. Our record is second to none, and we'll continue to lead on these issues."

There is, of course, no evidence that DeSantis is a neo-Nazi sympathizer. By all accounts, DeSantis has stood strongly with Jewish Floridians and against anti-Semitism.

Full DeSantis: Hamas ‘wants nothing less than another Holocaust’youtu.be

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