Tapper Admits Rebekah Jones Is a Fraud, Fails to Apologize for Elevating Her

On Monday’s The lead, host Jake Tapper was the first on CNN to admit that former Florida Health Department website operator Rebekah Jones was found to have fabricated her claims that state officials with ties to Republican Governor Ron DeSantis pressured her to manipulate COVID data, according to an investigation by the Health Department’s inspector general. But even with this revelation, Tapper failed to apologize for how he and the “facts first” network helped to elevate the lies and disinformation.

“In our health lead now, ‘insufficient evidence,’ that’s what a new inspector general report says it found in response to Rebekah Jones’ accusations she was asked to falsify COVID data on Florida’s dashboard,” Tapper announced before handing the actual reporting to national correspondent Kristen Holmes; instead of going off on one of his infamous, self-righteous diatribes.

“Explosive claims from a prominent critic of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis were, quote, ‘unsubstantiated’ and ‘unfounded,’ according to an internal state investigation,” Holmes informed viewers.

Adding: “Now, in a 27-page report obtained by CNN and first reported by NBC News, the Florida Department of Health’s Office of the Inspector General says it found insufficient or no evidence to back up most of Jones’ claims, after interviews with over a dozen witnesses.”

It’s been over two weeks since NBC first reported the investigation’s findings and CNN was only just reporting it on-air.

But as NewsBusters has reported in the past, CNN was one of the major liberal outlets that made sure to help promote Jones’s falsehoods. And in the Monday report, they used clips of her appearances with now-fired CNN host Chris “Fredo” Cuomo (Jones’s biggest supporter on the network), although they didn’t show any images of him.

Back on December 8, 2020, Tapper ran a report about Jones’s home getting raided by state police because she illegally accessed a state government communication platform after she was fired. Tapper played up Jones’s claims about the raid and her original claims of being pressured to manipulate COVID data:

This video is the top of our national leader. This video was taken from Florida’s ex-COVID data scientist. Her house was searched by the police. Rebekah Jones, who was insubordinate in May, was fired. Rebekah Jones accused Florida of covering up the extent of the pandemic in Florida.

According to CNN’s Drew Griffin, the raid was an act of retaliation against Ron DeSantis.

Nearly a year later, on October 27, 2021, Tapper and correspondent Tom Foreman elevated Jones’s Democratic congressional campaign against Florida Republican Matt Gaetz:

TAPPER – Florida’s new congressional district is one race that we recommend you watch. You can see it. It is located at the Alabama border. The state has been red-colored since 1992. Matt Gaetz, a Republican congressman holds a seat. Rebekah Jones is the data scientist who was fired from the scandal regarding COVID cases numbers from Florida’s Health Department. He now faces potential legal trouble and a challenger.

Jones quickly became a controversial figure for critics of Ron DeSantis, the Florida Republican Governor. Perhaps you remember her arrest last December, or her January stint in jail.

(…)

FOREMAN CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rebekah Jones is launching a campaign to replace Gaetz as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

They also played a sympathetic soundbite of Jones claiming “All I’ve ever wanted to do was help people.”

According to Nexis searches, Jones appeared to have been conspicuously absent from CNN’s radar until her arrest.

This sponsorship deal from TD Ameritrade enabled the refusal of apology for gaslighting this country. The link provides their contact information.

Below is the transcript. Click “expand to read:

CNN’s The lead
June 13, 2022
Eastern at 4:51 p.m.

JAKE TAPPER – In our health lead, insufficient evidence. This is what the new inspector general report said in its response to Rebekah’s accusations that she falsified COVID data from Florida’s dashboard.

CNN’s Kristen Holmes examines Jones’ allegations. Jones’s charges drew attention that made her a celebrity for progressive causes, even though experts now believe they are not up to scrutiny.

[Cuts to video]

REBEKAH JONES: DeSantis.

KRISTEN HOLMES: Explosive claims from a prominent critic of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis were, quote, “unsubstantiated and unfounded,” according to an internal state investigation.

Rebekah Jones was a key contributor to the creation of the state’s coronavirus dashboard. She became famous after she claimed that officials from the Health Department in DeSantis Administration were asking her to alter data to reduce the severity of the COVID epidemic, while the governor tried to restart businesses.

JONES

HOLMES: The allegations were denied by officials.

After interviewing over a dozen witnesses, the Florida Department of Health’s Office of the Inspector General has now released a 27-page document.

Jones and her lawyer argue that the inspector general misunderstands her complaints in a counter-reaction to her findings.

Jones was fired from the department of in-subordination for filing a whistleblower lawsuit in July 2020. Jones claims it was retaliation after he failed to alter the numbers in favor of reopening state. This claim is denied by officials.

GOV. RON DESANTIS, R.: She uploaded data to the portal that scientists believed was invalid data. She didn’t listen her to those who were her superiors.

HOLMES – Jones created her online database of Florida coronavirus information later on, later in that year.

POLICE OFICER: Please open the door.

HOLMES: Her family was raided by the state police.

POLICY OFFICER: Come down, police.

JONES – Do not point your gun at my children.

HOLMES: Concerning a text sent by the Department of Health to her internal system following her dismissal, encouraging others to express concern over COVID denialism.

CNN’s search warrant reveals that investigators traced Jones’ IP address to track the message.

Jones denied that he sent the message.

JONES

HOLMES: She was arrested in January 2021 for computer-related charges. She pleaded not guilt.

DeSantis formerly named a Democrat as the emergency manager for the state, and she has accused Jones of spreading misinformation to her many thousands of twitter followers. Twitter removed her account.

This week, a Florida state audit report finding the state’s ability to accurately report COVID data at the beginning of the pandemic was hindered by, quote, “inaccurate or incomplete data reported to the state” by health agencies.

[Cuts back to live]

HOLMES: One thing is interesting about this story. Both sides claim vindication for their claims in the report. Unsubstantiated simply means that there wasn’t enough evidence to support or refute those accusations. However, we must point out that Jones’ claims weren’t supported by evidence.

Jones has one important thing to say about her current actions. She is currently leading Democratic candidate for Florida’s 1st congressional district. It means that Jones will be challenging Matt Gaetz in November. Jake.

TAPPER Kristen Holmes, thank you so much. Appreciate it.