Matt Gaetz

Matt Gaetz
Rep. Gaetz tweeted a screenshot of his conversation with the Miami Herald reporter.

Florida Representative Matt Gaetz has put the Miami Herald on blast after one of their reporters tweeted last month that "packed beaches should work nicely to thin the ranks of Trump/DeSantis/Gimenez supporters in Florida who value money over health."

Rep. Gaetz said that he was contacted by David Smiley, a Miami Herald reporter, who was looking for comment on Gov. Rick DeSantis's plan to reopen beaches, when he reminded them what their columnist Fabiola Santiago had said about Republicans.

Santiago has deleted the tweets, but remains employed by the Miami Herald.

"Miami Herald lies about Gov. Ron DeSantis, allows columnist Fabiola Santiago to wish DeSantis-supporting readers *dead* w/o repudiation, and now wants to talk 'politics' with me as their smears have been proven false by the data," Rep. Gaetz tweeted with a screenshot of the conversation.


In the text, Rep. Gaetz told the reporter that it's "hard to take your request seriously. Your publication should be embarrassed by its coverage of Gov DeSantis & what your content creators have said about wanting his supporters to die w no repudiation by the Herald."

At the time of the tweet, Santiago was called out by Donald Trump Jr., who tweeted that the Miami Herald is biased and "disgusting."


"This tweet from a Miami Herald columnist tells you all you need to know about her, and based on their hiring choices, likely everything you need to know about the Miami Herald as well. Their flagrant bias continues to go on unchecked. Disgusting," Trump Jr. tweeted.

Santiago later apologized for the tweets, saying her words "didn't accurately convey my sentiment and I want to apologize for the phrase I used that offended many people."