Over the weekend, Marine Corps veteran and good Samaritan Daniel Penny saw his legal defense fund swell to over $2 million (currently over $2.2 million). Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis had a hand in that after giving it a boost via Twitter on Friday night. But during Monday’s CNN This Morning, the liberal network whined that DeSantis would dare get involved and huffed about him choosing to “elevate … certain sides” in “controversies.”
During a segment about DeSantis making the political rounds ahead of an anticipated presidential campaign announcement, co-host Kaitlan Collins whined about DeSantis’s support for Penny and downplayed the violent and threatening behavior of the late Jordan Neely, which led to the need to restrain him.
We must defeat the Soros-Funded DAs, stop the Left’s pro-criminal agenda, and take back the streets for law abiding citizens. We stand with Good Samaritans like Daniel Penny. Let’s show this Marine… America’s got his back.
https://t.co/uQXZuT19Mo— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantisFL) May 13, 2023
“We also saw Governor DeSantis, throwing his support behind Daniel Penny, the former Marine, of course, who has now been charged with manslaughter in the death of the homeless man on the New York City subway system,” she asserted, falsely portraying the situation that led up to Neely being put in a chokehold. This was done to tee up CNN reporter Steve Contorno.
After Contorno read from DeSantis’s tweet linking to the GiveSendGo campaign, he lamented that “this is something we have seen repeatedly from DeSantis during these moments of national controversies,” Such as the other self-defense incidents the liberal media tried to sway: “He came out in strong support for Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who fatally shot two people in Wisconsin during those nights of civil unrest.”
Looks like Contorno mispronounced “riots.” He also notably failed to add that Rittenhouse was found innocent of murder charges.
Contorno also bemoaned DeSantis speaking out against Lia Thomas, the biological man who won a women’s swimming championship. “And he also when there were protests in Canada by truckers, he came out in strong support of those truckers,” he recalled, refusing to mention that they were protesting Canada’s draconian COVID rules.
Adding: “So, he has repeatedly seized on these moments to — and used them to elevate, you know, certain sides in the controversies with his platform.”
Of course! Putting a thumb on the scale was CNN’s job!
Collins did do a better job than The View’s Sunny Hostin, who later in the day suggested the money being raised was some kind of reward for Penny since he killed a black man. “And important to note, that fundraiser that he’s tweeting a link to would go to Daniel Penny’s legal fees that he is incurring,” Collins concluded the segment.
CNN’s whining about Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Subway and Consumer Cellular. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click “expand” to read:
CNN This Morning
May 15, 2023
7:18:00 a.m. Eastern(…)
KAITLAN COLLINS: We also saw Governor DeSantis, throwing his support behind Daniel Penny, the former Marine, of course, who has now been charged with manslaughter in the death of the homeless man on the New York City subway system. What was DeSantis saying? I believe he was even fundraising on Penny’s behalf. Is that right?
STEVE CONTORNO: That’s right. He tweeted a link to a fundraiser for Daniel Penny and he posted tweet. He said, “We must defeat the Soros-Funded DAs, stop the Left’s pro-criminal agenda, and take back the streets for law-abiding citizens. We stand with good Samaritans like Daniel Penny. Let’s show this Marine and America’s got his back.”
And this is something we have seen repeatedly from DeSantis during these moments of national controversies. He came out in strong support for Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who fatally shot two people in Wisconsin during those nights of civil unrest. He signed a proclamation declaring the woman – the Florida woman who finished second to Lia Thomas in the national championships; she, of course, is the first transgender national champion. And he also when there were protests in Canada by truckers, he came out in strong support of those truckers.
So, he has repeatedly seized on these moments to — and used them to elevate, you know, certain sides in the controversies with his platform.
COLLINS: Yeah. And important to note, that fundraiser that he’s tweeting a link to would go to Daniel Penny’s legal fees that he is incurring. Steve Contorno, thank you so much.