Florida Governor Ron DeSantis hurried up a staircase when reporters confronted him about a controversial $1.776 billion fund established under the Trump administration. The fund in question aimed to compensate individuals claiming to be victims of ‘lawfare.’
The 15-second clip, which shows the governor quickly leaving the area after the question was asked, then going up the steps and onto the street, has gone viral and inspired a wave of responses online.
The clip was posted on X before being retweeted by former Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who amplified it with a pointed comment of her own. DeSantis broke into a sprint up stairs to exit onto the street after a reporter asked: “Governor, what do you think of the Weaponization Fund, the DOJ fund? Could you comment on that?”
He did not respond.
As seen in the 15-second clip posted on X, reporters followed DeSantis down an internal hallway and onto the street as the governor moved quickly past them and up a flight of stairs, with no response and no indication of interest in answering their questions.
The clip quickly generated reactions online, with some viewers contrasting the moment with DeSantis’ past criticism of the Biden administration and federal agencies.
The $1,776,000,000 fund – a nod to 1776 – came from a settlement between President Donald Trump and the IRS. The fund stems from a settlement related to a lawsuit involving the disclosure of Trump’s tax returns to the New York Times in 2019.
The Justice Department says it will use the money to make formal apologies and pay people who got caught up in government “weaponization and lawfare.”
Internet Reacts To Florida Gov. DeSantis Sprinting Away From Reporters
The clip drew an immediate wave of commentary, with viewers splitting between those mocking the optics and those making a sharper political point about what the sprint represents.
The jokes came fast. “The reporters with the scary questions are helping him get his cardio in, though,” one commenter wrote, while another was even more direct: “Dude ran like he owed the mob money!”
Others framed it as a pattern rather than an isolated moment. “It is true that if the question was about Biden and his DOJ, DeSantis would have gladly taken shots at Biden,” one person noted. “He now runs away from Trump questions.”
Some viewers were less interested in the politics and more focused on the performance itself. Former Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried also reacted to the clip, writing,: “He LITERALLY can’t run faster away.”
The fund has continued generating debate online and within Congress, with some Republican lawmakers reportedly questioning how the compensation program could be implemented. DeSantis, meanwhile, has not publicly addressed the issue raised in the viral video.
