During his first television interview since the scandal broke out over leaked private chats that have resulted in near-unanimous calls for his resignation, Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló struggled to come up with a single name when Fox News anchor Shepard Smith pressed him to offer up anyone who currently supports him.
With hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans taking to the streets of San Juan on Monday to demand Rosselló’s resignation after the governor said he wouldn’t step down on Sunday, Smith pointed out that “corruption is rampant” on the island before highlighting why the profanity-laced leaked chats have caused such backlash.
“So attacks on women, attacks on gays, attacks on the dead relatives of your own residents on your own island and after that who is left to support you?” Smith asked the governor. “Is it even safe for you to govern?”
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Rosselló, meanwhile, meekly said he has apologized and is trying to make amends, prompting the Fox anchor to ask him what exactly he’s apologized for.
After claiming he’s apologized for the chats, the embattled governor attempted to say he wants to move on to battling corruption, leading Smith to remind him that the corruption is within Rosselló’s own administration.
Noting the widespread calls for him to step down, Smith grilled the governor on his lack of support in Puerto Rico, wondering aloud: “Who has come forward to support you?”
“There are folks who have supported me, who have come forward,” Rosselló muttered, causing Smith to demand a name. The governor, however, struggled to answer the Fox News host.
“Can you give me one name?” Smith pressed. “Just one name, governor.”
Finally, after Smith continued to confront Rosselló, noting that the governor wasn’t able to come up with anyone who had his back, Rosselló finally tossed out the name of the mayor of one city: San Sebastian Mayor Javier Jimenez.
Moments after the interview aired, however, Jimenez told CBS News' David Begnaud that he did not, in fact, support the governor.
“There are other folks that have established people in the legislature and people in the Senate, as well, said that have supported me,” the governor added. “They have supported the fact that I will not run and I shouldn’t seek reelection but they have established it’s important to follow the rule of law.”
Smith went on to relentlessly grill Rosselló, questioning whether the governor has “appropriately apologized” while highlighting that Rosselló has so far refused to meet with the Puerto Rican people who are demanding his resignation.
