DeSantis slams ‘cabal’ after event program wrongly said he attended

Gov. Ron DeSantis denounced a “cabal” of New York and Washington journalists Monday for what he described as a lie that he attended the White House correspondents’ dinner.

The governor’s name was listed on the program as an attendee of the Saturday event, and host Trevor Noah spoke as if he was there as he took shots at the governor. Although President Biden attended, President Trump skipped it when he was in office, and DeSantis said he hadn’t considered attending.

“I would never attend that. I have no interest in that. I did not watch it,” DeSantis said at a news conference in Jacksonville, where he announced additional funding for manatee protection. “I don’t care what they do. But for them to advertise me when that invitation was rejected by my office, that is a lie.”

During the White House Correspondents’ Association

dinner, a once low-key event that has evolved into as glamorous evening as Washington can offer, Noah made fun of DeSantis’ refusal to say whether he got a COVID booster, the talk of his presidential aspirations and the state’s ban of certain math books.

Noah spoke as if DeSantis were in the audience, even though it turns out he wasn’t.

“And so here they are saying how important they are, that they’re somehow these paragons of truth, and yet there they are lying about something that is readily verifiable,” DeSantis said. “… And why they would want to perpetuate a lie about that, I don’t know. But I think it just shows you why that cabal of people in D.C. and New York are so reviled by so many Americans. I think it’s a reputation that’s been well-deserved.”

“I would never attend that. I have no interest in that. I did not watch it. I don’t care what they do. But for them to advertise me when that invitation was rejected by my office, that is a lie.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis