Has someone in the Governor’s Office gone rogue?
Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ office is pushing back against allegations that someone working for the administration leaked information about undistributed COVID-19 tests to one of DeSantis’ chief political rivals.
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried contended during a radio hit Thursday that a DeSantis staffer leaked information about 1 million expired-but-unused rapid COVID-19 tests to her because he felt it was important to get the information out.
“It was a very high-profile individual in the DeSantis administration,” Fried said during a segment on WJCT’s First Coast Connect.
Asked why someone from the Governor’s Office divulged this information, Fried said the person wanted to ensure information was getting out to the public about the tests that expired while housed by the state last year, ahead of the omicron surge over the holidays.
“Because they were concerned. And it was somebody who wanted to make sure that information was going out. But obviously, I want to protect that individual because I know that this Governor would have him fired — them fired — almost instantaneously, and so I will protect that person’s anonymity. But this person was very clear about what was happening,” Fried said.
