Ann Coulter Blasts 'Liar and Con Man' Donald Trump Over Ron DeSantis Booster Criticism

Conservative pundit Ann Coulter has launched an attack on Donald Trump, calling the former president a "liar and con man" after he criticized politicians who refuse to say whether they've received a COVID-19 booster shot—an apparent swipe at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Trump made the comments during an interview on the One America News Network, condemning "gutless" public figures who won't confirm or deny if they have had the third dose of the vaccine.

He said: "I've had the booster. Many politicians—I watched a couple of politicians be interviewed and one of the questions was, 'Did you get the booster?' because they had the vaccine, and they're answering like … In other words, the answer is 'yes' but they don't want to say it because they're gutless."

Although Trump did not mention DeSantis by name, the remarks are thought to be in part directed at the governor, who has swerved questions about whether he has had a booster shot in recent weeks.

Coulter, who was once a staunch supporter of Trump but turned on him for his failure to act on his promise to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, mocked him for the booster remarks on Twitter on Wednesday.

"EXCLUSIVE: Trump is demanding to know Ron DeSantis's booster status, and I can now reveal it," Coulter tweeted.

"He was a loyal booster when Trump ran in 2016, but then he learned our president was a liar and con man whose grift was permanent. I hope that clears things up."

Coulter, who published the fawning book In Trump We Trust, E Pluribus Awesome! in 2016, has levelled a numbers of insults at the former president in more recent years.

During an interview on Andrew Sullivan's Dishcast podcast on November 5, 2020, she called Trump "abjectly stupid" and accused him of "directly betraying his base" for not building the wall despite this being his main campaign promise.

In May 2020, Coulter described him as disloyal.

Newsweek has contacted Trump's office for comment.

DeSantis is one of the high-profile GOP lawmakers who have repeatedly dodged questions about whether they have had the COVID-19 booster, even though his office previously confirmed that he had a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine last April.

"I've done whatever I did, the normal shot, and that at the end of the day is people's individual decisions about what they want to do," DeSantis told Fox News' Morning Futures in December when asked about the booster.

In a statement to NBC regarding Trump's remarks, DeSantis' spokeswoman, Christina Pushaw, said: "President Trump did not mention Governor DeSantis in that interview, so I wouldn't want to make assumptions."

Ann Coulter  trump
Ann Coulter called Donald Trump a "liar and con man" whose "grift is permanent" after the former president made a thinly veiled attack on Governor Ron DeSantis. Chip Somodevilla/ PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images

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About the writer


Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more

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