AP urges DeSantis to end bullying aimed at reporter

By DAVID BAUDER
AP Media Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated Press is calling on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to end “harassing behavior” by one of his press aides against an AP reporter who received threats and other online abuse. Incoming AP CEO Daisy Veerasingham sent a letter Friday to DeSantis protesting tweets by a press secretary directed at a Tallahassee, Florida-based reporter in response to a story he wrote pointing out one of DeSantis’ multi-million dollar donors invests in a company making a monoclonal antibody COVID-19 treatment drug. In a since-deleted tweet, the aide retweeted the article with the message “drag them,” which led to abusive messages being sent to the journalist. She says she deleted the tweet because she did not mean “drag them” as a threat.