CNN's Jim Sciutto wants the world to know that “as a man,” he finds the governor of Florida “embarrassing.” CNN host Sciutto and Poppy Harlow battled with Rosa Flores about her Monday fight with DeSantis over vaccine distribution and who is to blame for senior citizens not getting vaccinated.
After playing a video of Flores' interaction with DeSantis, Sciutto asked Flores to affirm his belief that DeSantis is attempting to shift blame onto others, "I just have to ask you, Rosa because you've been covering this very closely, in effect it sounds like a handoff from a handoff, right, because the president has said 'not our job, it's up to the states,' but here you have a state government saying “not our job it's up to the hospitals.”
Naturally Flores agreed:
You know, you're absolutely right. And here is the thing, hospitals -- he says hospitals are responsible. My producer, Denise, just got off the phone with Lee County. They're telling us it is not the hospitals, because here is how it works, Jim, the state is given the vaccines to the counties. In the state of Florida the county health departments are run by the Florida Department of Health, that is the state. These are appointees appointed by the governor of this state. So he's trying to wash his hands from responsibility here, but the buck should stop with him. This is the fourth week of the rollout and as I tried to ask him while I was at that press conference so was there no plan to make sure that senior citizens were not waiting overnight?
Despite Flores' assertion to the contrary, this does not debunk DeSantis' claim. After the state gives the state-run county health departments the vaccine, presumably the county then gives the vaccine to the hospitals, which are not run by the state, just as DeSantis originally claimed. Additionally, DeSantis claiming that Florida's plan is to distribute the vaccine to hospitals is not exactly new information.
Regardless, Flores still claimed, "He dodged that question. He didn't answer this question, again, tried to pass the buck."
To which, Sciutto wrapped up the segment and declared, "I will tell you watching that attack on you I got to say -- it was a public official but also just as a man, I found it embarrassing. So good for you to sticking up for yourself as you well should have."
Of course, neither Flores nor Sciutto ever clarified why vaccine demand being greater than vaccine supply is so embarrassing.
This segment was sponsored by Dell.
Here is a transcript of the January 5 show:
CNN
CNN Special Election Coverage
9:39 AM ET
JIM SCIUTTO: I just have to ask you, Rosa because you've been covering this very closely, in effect it sounds like a handoff from a handoff, right, because the president has said “not our job, it's up to the states,” but here you have a state government saying “not our job it's up to the hospitals.”
ROSA FLORES: You know, you're absolutely right. And here is the thing, hospitals -- he says hospitals are responsible. My producer, Denise, just got off the phone with Lee County. They're telling us it is not the hospitals, because here is how it works, Jim, the state is given the vaccines to the counties. In the state of Florida the county health departments are run by the Florida Department of Health, that is the state. These are appointees appointed by the governor of this state. So he's trying to wash his hands from responsibility here, but the buck should stop with him. This is the fourth week of the rollout and as I tried to ask him while I was at that press conference so was there no plan to make sure that senior citizens were not waiting overnight? The same thing happened when he was trying to re-open schools. I asked him during a press conference, Jim, was there a state plan to reopen schools safely? He dodged that question. He didn't answer this question, again, tried to pass the buck.
SCIUTTO: I will tell you watching that attack on you I got to say -- it was a public official but also just as a man, I found it embarrassing. So good for you to sticking up for yourself as you well should have.
