Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is rumored to be gearing up for a run at the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, clapped back at a reporter during a Q&A session in Israel over a claim made by a former prisoner held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Mansoor Adayfi claimed that DeSantis witnessed the force-feeding that he was subjected to during a hunger strike in 2006, as reported by The Independent. DeSantis served in the U.S. Navy Reserve and was stationed on the base from March 2006 to January 2007.

DeSantis wasted no time clapping back at the reporter who asked about it.

“No, no, all that’s BS. Totally BS. Who said that? How would they know me? Okay, think about that,” he said.

“Do you honestly believe that’s credible? So this is 2006, I’m a junior officer, do you honestly think that they would have remembered me from Adam, of course not. They’re just trying to get into the news because they know people like you will consume it because it fits your pre-ordained narrative that you’re trying to spin. Focus on the facts and stop worrying about narratives.”

According to The Independent, in a previous interview with Piers Morgan, DeSantis stated that if a prisoner was at risk of dying, a commanding officer might authorize force-feeding, but as a junior officer, he “didn’t have authority” to do so.

Force-feeding has routinely been implemented during hunger strikes, and the U.S. government has denied that this practice constitutes torture.

Hunger strikes and violent riots broke out at the facility in 2006.

During a March 2022 press conference, DeSantis reprimanded the media for disseminating a particular narrative, particularly in its coverage of the Florida Parental Rights bill. The bill prohibits classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity through third grade.

At the presser, DeSantis accused a reporter of promoting a false narrative by referring to the legislation as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, even though the bill did not include any provisions preventing the use of the term “gay.”