copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2024-01-21): MANCHESTER, N.H. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, once seen as the most formidable opponent to Donald Trump in the Republican presidential primary, suspended his campaign Sunday and endorsed the former president. [...] DeSantis sought to position himself as an alternative to Trump, trying to cast himself as a politically successful heir to the MAGA movement and its preferred policies without Trump’s baggage. But in his bid to court Trump’s supporters, DeSantis was slow to meaningfully criticize the former president and was unable to peel away enough of his support. DeSantis’ embrace of hard-right policies also led moderate Republicans and independents to look elsewhere in their search for a candidate to steer the GOP in a different direction from Trump. [...] By the end of his run, DeSantis was regularly attacking Trump in his stump speech, chiding the former president for not following through on 2016 campaign promises like building a border wall, for refusing to join primary debates, and for his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2023-03-29): Former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump has gone on the attack against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential rival for the Republican nomination in 2024 – bashing the governor over everything from pandemic policy to Social Security. [...] One of Trump’s claims was an exaggeration about temporary restrictions DeSantis put in place early in the Covid-19 pandemic. Another claim was a misleading comparison between the number of votes Trump and DeSantis received in Florida. A third claim was a repeated inaccuracy in Trump’s oft-told story about why he decided to endorse DeSantis’s first campaign for governor. [...] Trump claimed in the written statement that DeSantis "was Third Worst in the Nation for COVID-19 Deaths (losing 86,294 People)" and "Third Worst for Total Number of Cases, at 7,516,906."
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2023-09-19): "Florida sort of had a mandate because they were giving the vaccine, they were demanding everybody take the vaccine."former President Donald Trump As a new COVID-19 booster rolls out nationwide, former President Donald Trump accused one of his 2024 campaign rivals, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, of previously forcing people to take the vaccine. [...] Sources - YouTube, Former President Donald Trump on Not Firing Fauci, Lockdowns, COVID Vaccines, and More, Sept. 14, 2023 - USA Today, Fact check: Will Florida order residents to get vaccinated for COVID-19? May 2, 2020 - Florida, Executive Order 20-80, 2020 - Florida House, HB 7-B: Vaccinations During Public Health Emergencies, 2021 - Florida statute, 381.00315: Public health advisories; public health emergencies; isolation and quarantines, Accessed Sept. 14, 2023 - Alachua Chronicle, Governor Ron DeSantis Provides Update on COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Plan & New Therapeutics, Nov. 19, 2020 - Gov. Ron DeSantis, Governor Ron DeSantis Provides Update on COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Plan, Dec. 2, 2020 - Gov. Ron DeSantis, ICYMI: Florida on Track to Offer Vaccine to Every Long-Term Care Facility Resident and Staff Member by February 1, Jan. 25, 2021 - Fox News, 100-year-old World War II veteran becomes 1 millionth Florida senior citizen to receive coronavirus vaccine, Jan. 22, 2021 - Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida Leads the Nation in Vaccines for Ages 65+ with Seniors First ApproachJan.
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2023-03-26): Former President Donald Trump has been attacking Gov. Ron DeSantis over the way he managed Florida’s COVID-19 pandemic response. [...] "Trump's trying to rewrite the whole COVID narrative, calling Ron ‘Shutdown Ron,’" Moskowitz said March 26 on CNN’s State of the Union. "I mean, listen for anyone who was on the conference calls with the president, he instructed all the governors to shut down." [...] RELATED: Donald Trump's attacks exaggerate Ron DeSantis' COVID-19 response
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2023-04-22): Donald Trump's attacks exaggerate Ron DeSantis' COVID-19 response [...] Former President Donald Trump cast doubt on some of Gov. Ron DeSantis' oft-repeated talking points about "keeping Florida free" during the COVID-19 pandemic — suggesting that other Republican governors did much better. "Surprise, Ron was a big lockdown governor on the China virus, sealing all beaches and everything else for an extended period of time," Trump said in a statement posted to Truth Social March 22. "Remember, I left that decision up to the governors."
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2023-05-02): While announcing a request for a grand jury probe into "crimes and wrongdoing" related to the COVID-19 vaccines, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his panel of contrarian experts repeatedly suggested the shots were too risky. But such claims are unsupported and based on flawed analyses. [...] DeSantis, who is viewed as a potential leading contender for the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination, initially was supportive of the COVID-19 vaccines. But at the roundtable, he announced he was creating a new panel of experts to "counteract nonsense" from institutions such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health. [...] DeSantis and his experts primarily relied on two analyses to support their claim that the COVID-19 vaccines are more dangerous than medical authorities have let on.
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2022-01-12): Former President Donald Trump appeared to take a shot at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over his refusal to disclose whether he’s received a Covid-19 booster shot in a new interview with the far-right channel One America News. [...] DeSantis told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo back in December that he had "done whatever I did, the normal shot" when asked if he received a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine. The rest of his response focused on his opposition to vaccine mandates as governor, saying the Covid-19 vaccine and subsequent booster shots should be "people’s individual decision." [...] "President Trump did not mention Governor DeSantis in that interview, so I wouldn’t want to make assumptions. Governor DeSantis has always been clear about his position on Covid-19 vaccination and boosters: the shots should be available to all but mandated for none, and the choice to get a vaccine or booster is an individual’s private medical decision," Pushaw said.
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2022-11-15): Former President Donald Trump claimed he "sent in the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys" to Broward County during the 2018 election to stop "ballot theft" and help Ron DeSantis become Florida’s governor. But a spokesman for the county elections office said there was no "federal law enforcement presence" for that election. [...] The former president made his claim in a rambling statement released Nov. 10 that criticized Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and the man he called "Governor Ron DeSanctimonious." It comes at a time when DeSantis, who handily won reelection on Nov. 8, has emerged as a threat to Trump’s plans to run for president in 2024. [...] So, there is no evidence to support Trump’s claim that "votes were being stolen" from DeSantis in Broward County or that Trump dispatched federal agents to the county and stopped DeSantis’ "Election from being stolen."
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2023-01-28): Former President Donald Trump took aim at Ron DeSantis Saturday, claiming the Florida governor and his team are "trying to rewrite history" regarding their Covid-19 pandemic response, and called the potential presidential run by his GOP rival "very disloyal." [...] "I had governors that decided not to close a thing and that was up to them," he said. The former president also took aim at DeSantis’ shifting posture on vaccines, saying the Florida governor had "changed his tune a lot." That claim comes after DeSantis called on state lawmakers this month to make permanent existing penalties for companies that require all employees get the Covid-19 vaccination.
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2023-09-15): Trump claimed that Florida under DeSantis "sort of had a mandate" on Covid-19 vaccines. In fact, DeSantis never imposed any kind of Covid-19 vaccine mandate. Defending himself against criticism from DeSantis, Trump claimed that he would not have given Dr. Anthony Fauci a presidential commendation and does not know who gave Fauci such a commendation. In fact, it was him, Donald Trump. [...] Trump, criticizing DeSantis’ handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, claimed: "I never had mandates. But Florida sort of had a mandate because they were giving the vaccine, they were demanding everybody take the vaccine." [...] This was not one-time loose language from Trump. He made roughly the same false claim in a June interview with another conservative host, saying, while speaking of DeSantis and Covid-19 vaccines, "I guess he sort of mandated it."
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2023-09-14): Ron DeSantis mandated COVID-19 vaccines in Florida? No, that Donald Trump claim rates Pants on Fire! [...] As a new COVID-19 booster rolls out nationwide, former President Donald Trump accused one of his 2024 campaign rivals, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, of previously forcing people to take the vaccine. [...] Trump said, "Florida sort of had a mandate because they were giving the vaccine, they were demanding everybody take the vaccine."
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2023-09-13): It’s been a favorite topic among some of the GOP’s top presidential contenders. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters that people are "lurching toward" COVID-19 restrictions and "there needs to be pushback." South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott posted online that the "radical Left" seeks to bring back school closures and mandates. And former President Donald Trump urged congressional Republicans to stop the Biden administration from bringing back COVID-19 "mandates, lockdowns or restrictions of any kind." [...] It was largely the same message from Democratic governors’ offices in several other states that responded to an inquiry about whether any COVID-19 mandates were under consideration. That included Connecticut, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan and Oregon. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, made clear his opposition to COVID-19 lockdowns as well as mask and vaccine mandates when he was campaigning for office last year: "This is an area where I think folks got it wrong," he said of school and business shutdowns. His office echoed the same sentiment in its response to the AP this week, saying, "The administration’s view is that there is no need to impose restrictions."
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2021-03-01): Not long after Florida began its rollout of the coronavirus vaccines, Black leaders and others began raising alarms that the first doses were finding their way into the arms of mostly white senior citizens who supported Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, while their hard-hit communities were left in the cold. [...] Fried and Crist are Democrats who are reported to be considering running next year against DeSantis, a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump who even before the vaccine rollout was harshly criticized for having been slow to respond to the pandemic. [...] Jewett, a longtime observer of Florida politics, said in an email that if he were to give DeSantis a grade for his handling of the pandemic and the vaccine rollout, it would be a C.
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2022-11-13): Newsom, DeSantis both claim ‘freedom’ as election mandates [...] But both men define "freedom" in vastly different ways. For Newsom, freedom means the right to say yes: To an abortion, to government-funded health care for immigrants, to gender-affirming care for children. For DeSantis, freedom means the right to say no: To COVID vaccines, to illegal immigration, to what he calls "indoctrination" on sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools. [...] DeSantis, meanwhile, signed a law to let workers opt out of their employers’ COVID vaccine mandates. He banned abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. He enacted a measure that forbids instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in elementary schools up to third grade, a rule critics dubbed the "don’t say gay" law. And he poked his rivals by using public money to bus immigrants living in the country illegally from Florida to Democratic-led states.
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2022-01-13): Former President Donald Trump has of late become an advocate for Americans getting Covid-19 vaccinations. It’s not that Trump, in testifying to the vaccines’ scientific efficacy and lifesaving powers, has suddenly developed a sense of public-mindedness all too missing in his presidency. Rather, it’s a classic case of doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. [...] Trump didn’t name his target. But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a rising GOP star and oft-mentioned potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate who is building his national image in Trump’s pugilistic image, has dodged questions about whether he has received a Covid vaccine booster. [...] But Trump is betting that the cult of personality around him is still strong enough to withstand differences on the vaccine and keep his supporters in line, propelling him to the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. He may very well be right. Trump in his vaccine messaging is effectively reminding DeSantis and other potential 2024 GOP challengers — like his former vice president, Mike Pence — who’s boss in the Republican universe.
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2023-11-09): Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called Donald Trump a "different guy" than he was in 2016, and slammed Trump’s electoral record as the head of the GOP, which has seen disappointment in successive elections, including on Tuesday in state races in Kentucky, Ohio and Virginia. "He said Republicans were going to get tired of winning," DeSantis said. "Well, we saw last night, I’m sick of Republicans losing. " [...] He also addressed federal spending, claiming in a second term he would not "give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate." It was his administration that led the development of COVID-19 vaccines, something he sometimes brags about.
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2022-06-27): It helped DeSantis that sometimes he was right. In April, 2021, "60 Minutes" reported that he had given the Publix supermarket chain a no-bid contract to distribute the COVID vaccine, after it contributed a hundred thousand dollars to his political-action committee. The segment featured video of a press conference, at which the show’s reporter Sharyn Alfonsi suggested that DeSantis had engaged in "pay to play." Viewers saw DeSantis tearing into Alfonsi: "It’s wrong, it’s a fake narrative. I just disabused you of the narrative, and you don’t care about the facts." But the unedited video, which later circulated online, showed DeSantis providing an explanation: in consultation with local officials, vaccine contracts had also been offered to several other retail and pharmaceutical chains. [...] Last July, DeSantis travelled to St. Petersburg and encouraged Floridians to get a COVID vaccine. He’d received one himself, he noted: the single-shot Johnson & Johnson. "These vaccines are saving lives," he said.
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2024-09-03): Yet Kennedy Jr. has also given Republicans reason for concern, with some polling showing he garners more support from Republican-leaning voters than Democratic-leaning ones. Even though they run counter to scientific evidence, Kennedy Jr.’s criticisms of vaccines closely align with the attitudes of the many Republicans who turned against vaccine and masking mandates implemented at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, at one point a top contender for the Republican presidential nomination, said he might put Kennedy Jr. in a position at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), both of which have a role in vaccine policy. As president-elect before his first term officially began, Trump reportedly flirted with creating a position in which Kennedy Jr. would review vaccine policy. Kennedy Jr. claimed Trump at one point offered to put him on the ticket as a candidate for vice president. On Monday, Trump reportedly met with Kennedy to discuss Kennedy dropping his presidential bid and endorsing Trump. [...] Still, Trump has tried recently to distance himself from his prior support for vaccination, saying on the campaign trail that if he is elected this year, he would not allow mandates requiring COVID vaccine or masks at school. At the same time, he has claimed that he is not opposed to routine childhood vaccinations.
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2021-04-04): Florida governor Ron DeSantis on Friday announced an executive order banning "vaccine passports" in the state, which like the rest of the US continues to suffer under the Covid-19 pandemic. "Today I issued an executive order prohibiting the use of so-called Covid-19 vaccine passports," Desantis said on Twitter. "The legislature is working on making permanent these protections for Floridians and I look forward to signing them into law soon." [...] But the Florida governor’s order claimed "requiring so-called Covid-19 vaccine passports for taking part in everyday life – such as attending a sporting event, patronizing a restaurant or going to a movie theater – would create two classes of citizens".
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2023-09-07): At Iowa fairgrounds, in glossy cable news interviews, and during the first debate stage of the 2024 Republican primary race, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has made his state’s COVID-19 response central to his U.S. presidential campaign. [...] The above figure, based on data from The Lancet study, presents the overall use of mandates across the fifty states. Florida adopted more mandates than most states—even Democratic-leaning ones—early but never reimposed them once lifted. DeSantis expanded testing early, and also isolated and prohibited visitors to COVID patients in nursing homes, avoiding mistakes that some other states had made. In the uncertain early weeks of the pandemic, DeSantis closed public schools and kept them closed for the rest of that academic year. He ordered Floridians to stay at home and closed nonessential business on March 29, 2020, urging Floridians to stay "spiritually together, but to remain socially distant." [...] DeSantis was at Tampa Bay Hospital to cheer on the first COVID-19 vaccine supplies when they arrived in Florida and when the first dose was administered to a frontline health worker. Florida prioritized individuals older than sixty-five for early doses, even to a greater extent than CDC guidelines recommended. For a time, Florida led the nation with its Seniors First campaign to vaccinate this vulnerable age cohort. When looking at the sixty-five-plus population, Florida had similar, and sometimes faster, ramp-up of coverage of the initial two-dose regimen than in California and New York, according to CDC data.
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2024-01-03): Ladapo issued the bulletin as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), his political patron, fights to stay alive in the Republican presidential primary, in which he trails former president Donald Trump by more than 40 percentage points in head-to-head polls. The Iowa caucuses, the first nominating contest, are slated to be held Jan. 15. [...] Scott Rivkees, a DeSantis appointee who preceded Ladapo as Florida surgeon general before stepping down in September 2021, called Wednesday’s announcement "surprising and disappointing" and at odds with settled science about the safety of coronavirus vaccines. But current DeSantis officials praised the announcement. [...] Trump advisers note that DeSantis had used federal funds to promote the vaccines in Florida before taking a more skeptical tone.
Claim: Former President Donald Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "sort of mandated" the COVID-19 vaccine. (Donald Trump, 2023-06-22)
Evidence (2023-11-20): Former President Donald Trump often seems proud to advertise his administration's record on speedily developing COVID-19 vaccines. On the campaign trail to win another term in the White House, though, he also has knocked the use of those very vaccines. In October, for example, he unleashed a barrage of social media attacks on Ron DeSantis' pandemic record by reposting claims that the Florida governor — who is running against him in the Republican presidential primaries — was too active in vaccinating Sunshine State residents. [...] Though he initially encouraged people to get vaccinated in early 2021, DeSantis pivoted months later, banning vaccine passports for businesses and government entities, and later approving legislation prohibiting vaccine mandates in the state. That fall, he also appointed a new Florida surgeon general, physician Joseph Ladapo, whose guidance on COVID vaccines contradicts CDC recommendations. DeSantis formed a Public Health Integrity Committee to assess, and generally dispute, federal health recommendations.