Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Nikki Fried and her Communications Director were caught amplifying a fake e-mail from Governor DeSantis this afternoon on their Twitter accounts. The phony e-mail was targeted at DeSantis’ supporters and asked if they would support him if he ran for President.
Fried retweeted the e-mail with no comment, while her Communications Director Keith Edwards captioned his Tweet, saying, “That’s an odd question to ask if you’re not planning on running for President.”
DeSantis’ Communications Director Christina Pushaw responded to the hoax within minutes of Fried and Edwards posting it to their Twitter accounts. Pushaw claimed that the e-mail was fake and implied that Edward has a record of being dishonest due to his association with The Lincoln Project.
This is completely fake. I would say “you’re better than this Keith,” but… you did work for John Weaver’s Lincoln Project. https://t.co/CQxnkKbkid
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) May 13, 2022
The Lincoln Project attempted to discredit Governor Glenn Youngkin during the 2021 Gubernatorial election in Virginia by staging a fake protest with white supremacists dressed up in MAGA hats and the same attire that alt-right Charlottesville protesters wore in 2017.
About an hour after Pushaw’s response, Edwards deleted his Tweet, saying that he was ‘made aware’ of the e-mail being a scam.
fyi was made aware i tweeted a scam email. Deleted the tweet. Apologies.
Sharing the tweet here for transparency pic.twitter.com/rBMJbKYyQP
— Keith Edwards (@keithedwards) May 13, 2022
While the origin of the e-mail is not known, one Twitter user pointed out that both Fried and Edwards retweeted it from the discredited Lincoln Project. The Lincoln Project’s caption implies that they were attempting to sow discord between President Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis.
“Hey @DonaldTrumpJr, did you get Ron DeSantis’ latest email? You gonna support him for President?” the caption reads.
Pushaw did not let Edwards off the hook, instead asking him to reveal where he got the scam e-mail from.
Sharing this tweet here for transparency 😇
Now… want to tell us where this “scam email” came from? https://t.co/MsvlN3rfig
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) May 13, 2022
DeSantis is currently expected to be re-elected by a comfortable margin. DeSantis has a net positive approval rating of anywhere from 10 to 15 percentage points, according to polling conducted in April.
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