CNN is being called out for editing a portion of an answer by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
During a segment of CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, host Kasie Hunt asked former Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli, who is backing DeSantis’ presidential bid, about a moment from an interview that was getting a lot of attention.
“There was a pretty interesting moment in a recent interview where Governor DeSantis talked about Trump supporters. He used the words ‘listless vessels’,” Hunt said as she introduced a video from the interview.
Before the clip was played, Cuccinelli interjected, “But he wasn’t talking about Trump supporters.”
In the video, DeSantis was seen saying, “A movement can’t be about the personality of one individual.”
After a cut in the video clip, he added, “If all we are is listless vessels that’s [sic] just supposed to follow, you know, whatever happens to come down the pike on Truth Social every morning, that’s not going to be a durable movement.”
Cuccinelli was quick to point out the clip excluded a portion of DeSantis’ comments.
“Everybody just saw there that there was a cut. You cut from the beginning of that quote to the listless vessels. You just did what the problem is. So everybody who just watched that… go read the transcript,” he said.
Watch the video below:
.@KenCuccinelli calls out CNN's Kasie Hunt for deceptively editing Ron DeSantis's comments during an interview with The Florida Standard. pic.twitter.com/Z4RlAgLyMr
— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) August 20, 2023
When asked to summarize the governor’s full comments, Cuccinelli explained, “There is a pretty big gap in your cut. So he’s talking about some of the folks in D.C. who’ve endorsed Trump.”
“He’s talking about the more general environment and referring to all of us collectively: ‘We can’t just sit back and take all of this be — listless vessels. We have to move ahead with a different vision.’ That was not Trump assigned,” he added.
In the interview, DeSantis argued Republicans need a series of principles to follow instead of personalities as he said, “A movement can’t be about the personality of one individual.”
He continued, “The movement has got to be about what are you trying to achieve on behalf of the American people, and that’s got to be based in principle, because if you’re not rooted in principle, if all we are is listless vessels that’s just supposed to follow whatever happens to come down the pike on Truth Social every morning, that’s not going to be a durable movement.”
Trump’s allies have claimed DeSantis was labeling the former president’s supporters “listless vessels.”
