60 Minutes Suggests DeSantis Gave Publix Vaccines as 'Pay to Play'
60 Minutes suggested that a $100,000 Publix donation to Gov. Ron DeSantis's campaign helped the grocery chain win the job of giving out COVID-19 vaccines in Florida.
The insinuation cast a Republican governor's vaccine rollout as a donor favor.
What was reported
60 Minutes suggested that a $100,000 Publix donation to Gov. Ron DeSantis's campaign helped the grocery chain win the job of giving out COVID-19 vaccines in Florida.
What actually happened
The segment aired about one minute of DeSantis's roughly three-minute answer and left out his explanation of why Publix was chosen. Palm Beach County's Democratic mayor, Dave Kerner, said the county itself had asked to expand the Publix program, that he had offered to talk to the show, and that the report was false. Florida's Democratic emergency management director, Jared Moskowitz, also called it nonsense. CBS stood by the story and said it was edited for clarity, but it offered no evidence that the donation influenced the decision.
The proof
Public statements from two Democratic officials directly involved in the rollout, and PolitiFact's review of what the edit left out of DeSantis's answer.
The receipt. Copy this and paste it anywhere:
60 Minutes Suggests DeSantis Gave Publix Vaccines as 'Pay to Play' — Unproven. Public statements from two Democratic officials directly involved in the rollout, and PolitiFact's review of what the edit left out of DeSantis's answer. Full file: https://www.thepropagandafiles.com/case/60-minutes-desantis-publix-pay-to-play/
Original reporting
- CBS News: 60 Minutes on its story about vaccine distribution in Palm Beach Countyhttps://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-on-its-story-about-vaccine-distribution-in-palm-beach-county-florida/
Corrections, findings & records
- PolitiFact: Unpacking the edits in the 60 Minutes report on DeSantishttps://api.politifact.com/article/2021/apr/07/unpacking-edits-60-minutes-report-ron-desantis-flo/
- Mediaite: Democratic Palm Beach County mayor says 60 Minutes should be ashamedhttps://www.mediaite.com/politics/democrat-mayor-of-palm-beach-county-says-60-minutes-should-be-ashamed-for-intentionally-false-reporting-on-desantis
- Mediaite: 60 Minutes stands by its report, says DeSantis's comments were cut for clarityhttps://www.mediaite.com/media/news/60-minutes-stands-by-controversial-publix-report-says-desantis-presser-comments-were-cut-for-clarity/
Archived copies
Stories get edited after publication. These open the Internet Archive's earliest saved copy of each original.
- Archived copy: CBS News: 60 Minutes on its story about vaccine distribution in Palm Beach Countyhttps://web.archive.org/web/2/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-on-its-story-about-vaccine-distribution-in-palm-beach-county-florida/