Democrat Palm Beach County Mayor Dave Kerner gave new details about the deceptive editing that occurred in a “60 Minutes” smear piece on Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, saying that he explained everything to the show before they aired the segment in an interview that lasted “probably over 45 minutes.”
Kerner was asked to respond to the following statement from “60 Minutes” in their attempt to explain the deceptive editing:
As we always do for clarity, 60 MINUTES used the portion of the Governor’s over 2-minute response that directly addressed the question from the correspondent.
“I participated in speaking with the producer of ’60 Minutes’ for probably over 45 minutes and gave very direct facts about the governor’s meeting that I had with him here in my office a few months ago,” Kerner said. “And when I watched the piece, I was just taken taken aback really that none of my comments, none of my perspective was included, and certainly the facts bear out the truth that this was a decision that I made, that county administration made, and really has been a wonderful addition to our overall plan here in Palm Beach County.”
Kerner said that he had met with DeSantis multiple times throughout the pandemic and they had worked well together. He also said the decision to work with Publix was a “no brainer.”
“And really, as a county mayor of of one of the largest counties in the nation, if we have a senior population that per capita outranks every other county in the state, so to have 67, ready-to-go vertically integrated points of distribution with 20,000 vaccines per week is a no brainer,” Kerner said. “And certainly Commissioner McKinley, my colleague on the board, eventually pointed out that there were some loopholes and gaps in the coverage of Publix. And we immediately rectified that, and quite frankly, we lead the state, all three major counties, by a longshot in terms of vaccinations provided to seniors 65 and over.”
Democrat & County Mayor @DavidMKerner joins @DanaPerino to discuss how 60 Minutes intentionally ignored facts he provided that debunked narrative about Publix vaccine distribution:
“When I watched the piece, I was taken aback really that… none of my perspective was included.” pic.twitter.com/pZFtHaJmZx
— Joanna Rodriguez (@joannamrod) April 6, 2021
Kerner said that he had to reach out to “60 Minutes” after they aired the deceptive segment because it was a “surreal experience” seeing how the show left out critical information that he gave them during his interview with them.
“I did issue a pretty scathing statement to CBS and ’60 Minutes’ on my own letterhead as the county mayor, not on behalf of the County, but I felt that it was important to have the truth out in the public sphere,” he added. “So for me, I left this experience really disheartened with ’60 Minutes’ and still don’t have an explanation as to why … my comments were never included.”
In his statement slamming “60 Minutes,” Kerner said that the show should “be ashamed” because they left out the key information he gave them “because it kneecaps their narrative.” Kerner said the segment “was not just based on bad information – it was intentionally false.”
Democrat Mayor on diminishing trust in media after 60 Minutes’ botched report on @RonDeSantisFL:
“I was the one that sat in the meeting, I was the one that asked for Publix’s assistance in this County & to not have that perspective included, it was sort of a surreal experience.” pic.twitter.com/FF0ZSvdPz5
— Joanna Rodriguez (@joannamrod) April 6, 2021