ORLANDO, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis angrily reacted Wednesday to former President Donald Trump posting on social media a photograph of what is purported to be DeSantis as a young teacher partying with teenage girls.
“I spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida and fighting against Joe Biden,” DeSantis said when asked about it. “I don’t spend my time trying to smear other Republicans.”
He did not say if he was the person in the photo, which originally emerged on social media last year.
Trump, who has been attacking DeSantis for months as the two maneuver for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, reposted the image on his social media website, Truth Social, from user @magnanimous.
The photo shows a man, allegedly DeSantis, at a party with girls whose faces were pixelated. One girl is holding what appears to be a bottle.
A caption reads, “Here is Ron DeSantimonious grooming high school girls while partying as a teacher,” referring to Trump’s nickname for DeSantis.
“That’s not Ron, is it? He would never do such a thing!” Trump wrote above the post.
A “groomer” is someone who manipulates and exploits a young person. The term gained prominence in conservative circles last year when it was used against opponents of the “don’t say gay” law by Christina Pushaw, former governor’s office spokeswoman.
The photo was originally circulated last year by a Democratic political committee. In a story from November about DeSantis’ time in 2001-02 as a 23-year-old teacher at Darlington School in Georgia, The New York Times quoted former students saying DeSantis was “a frequent presence at parties with the seniors who lived in town.”
The governor’s office did not respond when asked about Trump’s posts and the validity of the photo.
DeSantis was asked by a reporter about Trump, but he cut off the speaker, saying, “You guys want the controversy.”
The reporter pivoted to ask how DeSantis’ proposed legislation against defamation, which he rolled out at a previous event on Tuesday, would address Trump’s posts. DeSantis’ said he wanted to make it easier to sue media outlets.
“Look, I have a platform,” DeSantis said. “It’s different for me, because I can fight back. … (For) people that occupy high positions like me, it just goes with the territory, you’ve got to have a thick skin. So also just practically speaking, I would not take time out of being governor to be fighting lawsuits.”
Trump’s move was harshly criticized by conservatives on Twitter. National Review columnist Ramesh Ponnuru wrote, “Trump’s attack is simultaneously demented and pathetic.”
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