The office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis lashed out at the Miami Herald after the paper published a false claim about the Republican leader being “disinvited” from an event over “anti-immigrant” views.
On Thursday, the paper published a report with the headline, titled “Investment and immigration conference cancels DeSantis’ speech after objections raised.” The article stated that EB-5 Investors magazine disinvited DeSantis from giving the event’s keynote address and speaking on a panel “after some participants and sponsors objected to his immigration policies.”
The claim came from an email sent by Ira Kurzban, a leading immigration lawyer in Miami and a speaker who had been invited to the conference.
He told conference organizers he’ll be rescinding his acceptance of the invitation to protect DeSantis’ alleged invitation.
“I was seriously considering your kind invitation until I was informed that you have decided to ask Ron DeSantis to be the keynote speaker at the conference,” Kurzban told EB-5 in an email he shared with the Herald, according to The Daily Wire.
“Mr. DeSantis, also known as a mini-me for his Trump-like tactics, has engaged in the most virulent anti-immigrant conduct we have ever seen by a public official in this state,” Kurzban.
The Daily Wire explained:
Neither DeSantis’ office nor EB-5 corroborated Kurzban’s claim. DeSantis Press Secretary Christina Pushaw later flatly denied the article’s claim and tweeted a statement from the magazine also denying that DeSantis had ever been scheduled to speak at the conference. The magazine blamed a “staff error,” though was not specific as to how such an error contributed to the Herald’s story.
“Eb5investors.com is excited to host a conference in the great state of Florida. The Governor was never confirmed to participate, nor was he uninvited. We made a staff error and are regretful. It’s unfortunate that our event was used by media for political gain,” EB-5 noted in an email posted to Twitter by Pushaw.
Issue a correction.
— Christina Pushaw 🇺🇸
“[S]top spreading disinformation. Have you received any official confirmation, evidence or even a comment on record from EB5 organizers that Governor DeSantis was ever scheduled to speak at the conference? No. You have not. Delete & retract,” Pushaw in a tweet in response to the Herald reporter who wrote the story.
The Herald has yet to update or retract its story, and the article has been spread on other outlets and shared by other reporters. After a reporter for Politico tweeted out the story, Pushaw slammed the outlet for sharing debunked news.
“Politico now spreading the debunked falsehood. Incredible how journalists in the Florida Capitol press corps trip over themselves to defend shoddy ‘journalism.’ [The Herald’s reporter] never verified her story; it is inaccurate, Gov. DeSantis was never scheduled to speak so how could it be canceled?” Pushaw .