Name: DeSantis says Rebekah Jones ‘has issues,’ blasts news media over state police raid
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DeSantis says Rebekah Jones ‘has issues,’ blasts news media over state police raid

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AdvertisementBy Orlando SentinelDec 11, 2020 at 12:52 pmTALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday slammed news media outlets for their coverage of the state police raid on Rebekah Jones’ home and said the former Department of Health data scientist “has issues.”His comments came after a panel discussion decrying the stigma over mental health issues.Advertisement“She was fired because she wasn’t doing a good job,” DeSantis said of Jones. “None of the stuff that she’s said was ever proven. You’d think that would be the end of it; obviously, she’s got issues.”DeSantis had just finished a discussion in Tampa with his wife, Casey, who has championed better mental health treatment in the state, and Department of Children and Families Secretary Chad Poppell.AdvertisementThe discussion focused on health care workers and first responders who could be burnt out after working long hours and enduring isolation from possible exposure to COVID-19 during the pandemic this year. DeSantis and his wife decried the social stigma against mental health issues, which often leads to resistance in getting treatment.“It’s okay to not be okay,” Casey DeSantis said. “It’s not okay to not get help.”DeSantis did not elaborate, but his comments about Jones’ “issues” likely refer to her criminal history.One charge of misdemeanor cyberstalking an ex-boyfriend in 2019 still pending in the courts, as prosecutors withdrew a plea deal after the raid.Sexual cyber-harassment and stalking charges against Jones in the same incident were dropped, as were previous charges of robbery, trespassing and contempt of court for violating a domestic violence injunction against the same ex-boyfriend stemming from incidents in 2017.Jones also was fired from FSU as a professor after she threatened the roommate of her ex-boyfriend, a student of hers at the time, with a failing grade.The raid on Jones’ home by Florida Department of Law Enforcement has been roundly criticized by Democrats and others who believe the guns-drawn entrance into her home was overkill. FDLE officers waited outside Jones’ home Monday morning for 20 minutes and called her before entering.She posted a video to Twitter later that day showing the view from inside the house as agents entered the home and she pleaded with them not to point guns at her two children inside. FDLE Commissioner Ron Swearingen released two body camera videos Thursday showing the lead up to the raid, saying it vindicates his officers who showed restraint.AdvertisementThe officers were executing a search warrant after an investigation into a Department of Health complaint about a breach of their emergency communication system last month. “Speak up before another 17,000 people are dead. You know this is wrong. You don’t have to be a part of this. Be a hero. Speak out before it’s too late,” someone sent over the system on Nov. 10.“It’s not a raid.”Ron DeSantis shouts at reporter, defends ⁦⁩ raid. — Alexander Nazaryan (@alexnazaryan)The investigation led to an IP address at Jones’ home, which led FDLE to get the search warrant. Jones says she didn’t hack into the state’s system.WeeklyGet latest updates political news from Central Florida and across the state. &gt; Jones was fired from her health department job in May after she refused, she claims, to obfuscate COVID-19-related data on the state’s dashboard. She has since created her own data and analysis of the state’s pandemic data.She has said the raid was DeSantis’ way of squashing dissent within the health department over his handling of the pandemic. In her initial Twitter posts she decried it as a Gestapo tactic.DeSantis’ spokesman, Fred Piccolo, has said the governor wasn’t aware of the raid before it happened. But on Friday, DeSantis did say he was aware of the investigation.DeSantis also criticized a member of the news media for characterizing the raid on Jones’ home as a raid.Advertisement“It’s not a raid. With all due respect, what you’ve just said is editorializing,” DeSantis said. “Excuse me, excuse me. No – I’m not going to let you get away with it. These people did their job. They’ve been smeared as the Gestapo for doing their job.”One of the definitions of “raid,” according is “a sudden invasion by officers of the law.”grohrer@orlandosentinel.com Advertisement

AdvertisementBy Orlando SentinelDec 11, 2020 at 12:52 pmTALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday slammed news media outlets for their coverage of the state police raid on Rebekah Jones’ home and said the former Department of Health data scientist “has issues.”His comments came after a panel discussion decrying the stigma over mental health issues.Advertisement“She was fired because she wasn’t doing a good job,” DeSantis said of Jones. “None of the stuff that she’s said was ever proven. You’d think that would be the end of it; obviously, she’s got issues.”DeSantis had just finished a...

DeSantis says Rebekah Jones ‘has issues,’ blasts news media over state police raid

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