CNN’s Kaitlan Collins went after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for ducking her question on former President Donald Trump’s character in a contentious interview Thursday.
The CNN anchor hit DeSantis with questions about his GOP rival as the Republican presidential candidate continues to trail the former president by double digits in an average of national polls.
“You obviously are so far behind Trump in the polls,” Collins noted before pointing to his criticism on Trump’s comments on Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the former president’s abortion stance.
“But you never talk about Trump himself. What do you make of Trump’s character?”
DeSantis responded that he was “about results” and outcomes as he avoided the question before Collins stepped back in to check the candidate.
“But that’s not answering the question about his character. What do you make of Donald Trump’s character?” she asked.
“Because it’s not a concern. It’s not a concern of mine. I mean,” he replied.
“Why is it not a concern? You’re running against him because you clearly believe that you should be president over him,” Collins questioned before DeSantis replied that he doesn’t want to take “potshots” at Trump.
Trump hasn’t slowed down in his attacks on DeSantis over the course of the year while the Florida governor, who had been reluctant to criticize the former president earlier in his campaign, has stepped up his criticism in recent weeks.
DeSantis later in the interview declared that Trump is not “willing to show up” and “not putting in the work” before Collins casted doubt on his claim.
″Well, right now he is getting away with what you say is not putting in the work, he’s leading the polls –,” Collins said before DeSantis interrupted.
“Well that’s because he’s the most famous person running, 100% name ID, he’s the person people know,” explained DeSantis, who pointed to opportunities where he could “make the case” for his campaign.