DeSantis footage edited to add 'We want Trump' chant
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on September 7, 2023 at 17:22
- 2 min read
- By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
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"EVERYWHERE HE GOES..." says an August 27, 2023 post sharing the clip on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The post comes from a popular pro-Trump account called "il Donaldo Trumpo," which has previously shared videos that were manipulated to feature chants targeting President Joe Biden.
The clip spread across X and sites such as Instagram and Facebook, with one version on TikTok accumulating more than 536,000 views.
The footage appears to show a CNN segment depicting DeSantis, who is challenging Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, pausing as hecklers in Jacksonville, Florida shout "We want Trump." The lower third says: "DESANTIS HECKLED IN JACKSONVILLE."
But the video has been altered to add the pro-Trump chant.
"It's fake," Bryan Griffin, the DeSantis campaign's press secretary, told AFP in a September 6 email.
Authentic footage from the Jacksonville event -- a vigil for three people killed August 26 in what officials said was a racially motivated shooting at a discount store -- does not show the crowd drowning out DeSantis with pro-Trump chants. Rather, it captures them heckling and booing the Republican as he began to speak.
Among the jeers were "You're not welcome here" and "Your policies caused this," according to clips from NBC News and other media (archived here and here).
The original, unaltered August 27 CNN segment featured a different chyron saying: "DESANTIS HECKLED AT JACKSONVILLE SHOOTING VIGIL."
The footage, credited to local TV station WJXT, does not include any pro-Trump chants. Videos with such cheering are "fabricated with an audio track and chyron," said CNN spokesperson Bridget Leininger in a September 6 email.
As governor, DeSantis signed legislation allowing Floridians to carry concealed firearms without a permit. He has also faced criticism for supporting guidelines dictating how Black history should be taught in schools.
DeSantis continues to trail Trump in Republican primary polling, despite the former president's multiple indictments.
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