Gov. Ron DeSantis dodged a question on abortion, pledged to “rip the woke” from the military, and said former President Donald Trump shouldn’t be charged for Jan. 6 during an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday, his first sit-down conversation with a non-conservative news outlet in years.
DeSantis also defended his struggling presidential campaign as a “state-by-state process,” despite continuing to trail Trump 21% to 50% in the latest FiveThirtyEight national polling averages.
DeSantis’ appearance on a network he has dismissed as part of the “corporate media” was a surprise, said J. Miles Coleman, associate editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.