WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) 鈥� Republican presidential candidate is refusing to condemn 's post endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory, maintaining Sunday that he wasn't familiar with the post despite it from the billionaire's X social media platform.
鈥淚 did not see the comment,鈥� DeSantis, the governor of Florida, said on CNN's 鈥淪tate of the Union.鈥� 鈥淎nd so, I know that Elon has had a target on his back ever since he purchased Twitter because I think he鈥檚 taking it in a direction that a lot of people who are used to controlling the narrative don鈥檛 like.鈥�
Musk has sparked outcry with a recent tweet responding to a user who accused Jews of hating white people and for professing a general indifference to antisemitism. 鈥淵ou have said the actual truth,鈥� Wednesday.
IBM, Disney and other major advertisers have since pulled funding , a major blow as the platform formerly known as and their ad dollars that constitute its main source of revenue.
DeSantis , even as shows it has become a haven for hate speech since the billionaire took over the company last year. 鈥淪tate of the Union鈥� put Musk's post on the screen and host Jake Tapper read it to DeSantis before pressing him to condemn it 鈥� but the governor continued to demur.
鈥淚 know you tried to read it. I have no idea what the context is,鈥� said DeSantis who was joining the show via videoconference . 鈥淚 know Elon Musk. I have never seen him do anything. I think he鈥檚 a guy that believes in America. I have never seen him indulge in any of that. So it鈥檚 surprising, if that鈥檚 true, but I have not seen it. So I don鈥檛 want to sit there and pass judgment on the fly.鈥�
The governor also said he opposes antisemitism 鈥渁cross the board,鈥� no matter if it comes from the right or left of the ideological spectrum.
鈥淚t鈥檚 wrong no matter what,鈥� DeSantis said.
The post has drawn criticism from the White House, where spokesperson Andrew Bates said last week that, 鈥淚t is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of antisemitism in American history at any time, let alone one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.鈥�
That referred to , which occurred on Oct. 7.
Appearing on Tapper's show in person immediately after DeSantis, Maryland Democratic said it wasn鈥檛 credible to believe that someone running for president didn鈥檛 see Musk鈥檚 post: 鈥淭his is four days later and he has not had a chance to read what Elon Musk wrote?鈥�
鈥淭hat is very hard for me to believe,鈥� Raskin said. 鈥淚n any event you showed it to him, and he still refused to condemn it."
鈥淚f you're serous about condemning and confronting antisemitism and racism and these bigotries, which are the gateways to destruction of liberal democracy, you've got to be explicit and open and full-throated about it," Raskin added 鈥渁nd you've got to denounce the antisemitism and racism across the board.鈥�
Raskin himself called the post 鈥渙utrageous and dangerous,鈥� and suggested that he and other members of the House planned to write to Musk 鈥渢o ask him to renounce those comments and to clean up his act.鈥�
Will Weissert, The Associated Press
