Governor Ron DeSantis Is Facing Criticism For Handling Of Crisis; Police Arrest Florida Pastor For Holding Church Services Despite Social Distancing Order
LEMON: The state of Florida has nearly 5,500 cases of coronavirus, one of the 10 hardest hit states in the country. But tonight, Florida's Governor, Ron DeSantis, is facing criticism for his handling of the pandemic in his state. Here's CNN's Jeff Zeleny.</s>GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): We're going guns blazing, doing all that we can to be able to slow the spread of COVID-19.</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Florida tonight, that assessment is up for debate. Governor Ron DeSantis started the day by dramatically escalating the state's response to coronavirus, signing an executive order urging residents of four South Florida counties to stay home through mid-May.</s>DESANTIS: This is the time to do the right thing, listen to all your local officials. We do this until the middle of May, and then we'll see where we're at.</s>ZELENY (voice-over): But three and a half hours later, the governor said he misspoke, insisting he actually meant mid-April, not May.</s>DESANTIS: I'm sorry. You know, April 15th. I'm sorry. Yeah. So we're going to go -- it is still April 15th, but we're going to be evaluating every day and seeing kind of what some of the trends look like.</s>ZELENY (voice-over): It's the latest example of confusion and criticism over the governor's response to the spread of coronavirus in Florida, which is among the states in the eye of the gathering storm with nearly 5,500 cases and 70 deaths. For weeks, DeSantis has taken a far slower approach than many big state governors and often following the lead of the president with whom he speaks frequently.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just spoke with Ron DeSantis. We are thinking about certain things. Some people would like to see New York quarantine because it's a hot spot, New York, New Jersey.</s>ZELENY (voice-over): It was that weekend conversation that led the president to consider imposing such quarantine, a striking move he floated, yet ultimately backed away from. But it has fuelled rising feuds between states and also helped DeSantis blame Florida's growing case load on people fleeing from New York rather than on his decisions in recent weeks. As other states intensified their efforts, DeSantis left Florida's beaches open during the height of spring break.</s>DESANTIS: You have a family and they are just sitting out there in sunshine, heat and humidity in an open space. That's not as -- that's not as big of a problem.</s>ZELENY (voice-over): Now, he is taking a very different approach. He ordered checkpoints at the state's borders, causing traffic to back up for miles at the Florida-Georgia line and Alabama with troopers telling those who visited New York or Louisiana to self-quarantine for 14 days. The governor is also fighting to keep a cruise ship where four people have died and others are sick from docking in Florida.</s>DESANTIS: We think it's a mistake to be putting people in the Southern Florida right now given what we're dealing with. A lot of these are foreign nationals.</s>ZELENY (voice-over): But all actions stop well short of a statewide stay-at-home order now in effect at majority of states which many are calling for in Florida. State Senator Jose Rodriguez saying in a statement, "No corner of our state is immune and piecemeal/patchwork approach will not cut it. Because we remain so far behind testing, we cannot know how far behind we also are in trying to catch up with the virus as it spreads." While the governor has received considerable backlash in Florida, he has not drawn the ire of the White House like many governors have. But few governors are closer to the president, who helped him win election in 2018.</s>DESANTIS: Welcome home to Florida.</s>D. TRUMP: We're very happy with Ron. He's doing a fantastic job.</s>ZELENY (voice-over): Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.</s>LEMON: So the sheriff in one Florida County arresting a pastor who held two crowded services yesterday at his mega church, defying social distancing orders. He is charged with unlawful assembly and violating public health emergency rules. I want to bring in now the sheriff who arrested him and that is Sheriff Chronister of Hillsborough County, Florida. Sheriff, thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate it. We have video of one of the services listed. This is a crowded service. He said during the sermon that there was social distancing.</s>LEMON: But if you look at this, there were no signs that we can see. You said that you had no choice but to take action against Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne. Why was he arrested?</s>CHAD CHRONISTER, SHERIFF, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA: We were repeatedly requested. We pleaded him. We stopped just short of begging him, to stop putting lives in danger by going ahead and encouraging his parishioners to come to service that day. And as you saw, there were more than 400 people gathered. And he not only put their lives at risk, those hundreds of parishioners, but how about the thousands of people in the Tampa Bay area community that are now at risk as these parishioners return back to their neighborhoods?</s>LEMON: Mm-hmm. You are in direct contact with the church. The pastor was warned on more than one occasion about not having these large gatherings. I mean, you even tried to meet with him. What was his response, sheriff?</s>CHRONISTER: That he was protecting the freedom and the right to worship, which -- listen, I'll tell you the first one that's a man of faith and the last thing we want to do is take people's faith or the their right to worship. But you have to do so responsibly. He had all the means necessary to be able to not only to put this out online but to broadcast on a television station that he pays for. There was absolutely no reason to put these lives at risk. This reckless endangerment -- I don't know how many lives that we may lose because of this reckless display.</s>LEMON: I want to read -- this is a statement from him. One of the pastor's attorneys released a statement today and it says that the River Church took extra health precautions for its services on Sunday, and he mentioned you. "Not only did the church comply with the administrative order regarding six-foot distancing, it went above and beyond any other business to ensure the health and safety of the people. Contrary to the Sheriff Chronister's allegation that Pastor Howard-Browne was 'reckless,' the actions of Hillsborough County and the Hernando County sheriff are discriminatory against religion and church gatherings." He says that you're discriminating against religion. What's your response, sheriff?</s>CHRONISTER: That's certainly not the case. Listen, I encourage worship and the freedom of religion, but you just have to do it safely. Anyone who watches that video sees that he wasn't complying with any type of safety guidelines. He was not only defiant of the president's orders, the CDC guidelines, the governor's orders, but the local orders here in Hillsboro County.</s>LEMON: It was supposed to be no more than 10 people. Is that correct? How many people did he have?</s>CHRONISTER: We counted at least over 400.</s>LEMON: Yeah.</s>CHRONISTER: At least. So -- and as you saw in that video, there was no social distancing. He said that he has this state-of-the-art sanitizing equipment that moves air at 100 miles an hour. Listen, I'm sorry, there's no exemption for that.</s>LEMON: Yeah.</s>CHRONISTER: But he bused those individuals in. Was that same sanitary equipment on the buses, those large groups that were bused into that church?</s>LEMON: Yeah. And I understand, as you have said, you would have done this even if it was a gym or any other gathering. It had nothing to do with religion, right? It was just he was breaking the law.</s>CHRONISTER: This had nothing to do with -- that's exactly right. This had nothing to do with the pastor or the church. If this was a gym owner, any type of other business or group that encourages large gatherings, it would have been in defiance of this law. But, again, we pleaded with him. We talked to him. We talked to his attorneys. We talked to the church leaders. We did it since Friday through Saturday, into Sunday, into Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoon, even went there to meet his legal staff and church leaders in person, pleading with them not to put people's lives in danger.</s>LEMON: Yeah. Sheriff, I understand that he has posted bond. He was only there for about 40 minutes. I think it was $250. But we'll see where this goes. Keep us updated, sheriff. Thank you so much.</s>CHRONISTER: We certainly will. Be healthy, everyone.</s>LEMON: Thank you, you as well. President Trump's daily coronavirus briefings are beginning to sound a lot like his campaign rallies. We'll dig into that, next.