It was the kind of tough question a Republican presidential candidate might get on a Sunday morning talk show, but the person asking the question was 15 years old. Quinn Mitchell wanted to know if Florida Governor Ron DeSantis believed former President Donald J. Trump’s violations. A peaceful transfer of power will occur on January 6, 2021.
On June 27, a video of a disturbing exchange with DeSantis at City Hall in Hollis, New Hampshire, where he dodged a question, made the rounds online. So too was their next encounter at a Fourth of July parade in Merrimack, New Hampshire, where Quinn, an aspiring journalist, was seen on video being chased away by her handler, the Florida governor.
But the teenager said he was not prepared for what happened Friday. That’s when he was briefly removed by police from America’s First Leadership Summit, a candidate presentation event hosted by the New Hampshire Republican Party. Mr. DeSantis and most Republican officials attended the two-day event in Nashua, New Hampshire, but Mr. Trump did not.
“They said, ‘We know who you are,'” Quinn, who has his own political blog and podcast, said in a phone interview Saturday from his home in Walpole, New Hampshire, referring to the summit’s organizers. “I said,” he said.
Quinn, who received an invitation to the summit from the state’s Republican Party, was told by event officials that he has a history of subversive activities and is a tracker, a type of political operative who records the actions of his rivals. He said he was criticized. candidates.
The next thing she knew, Quinn said, she was being led to a private room and escorted out of the Sheraton Nashua Hotel by local police officers. His exit was first reported by the Boston Globe.
Jimmy Thompson, a spokesman for the New Hampshire Republican Party, said in a text message Saturday that removing the boy was a mistake.
“During the two-day event, overzealous volunteers mistakenly made the decision to exclude Mr. Quinn from the event, believing he was a Democratic tracker,” Thompson wrote. “Once this incident was brought to the attention of our staff, NHGOP returned him to the event, where he was free to enjoy the rest of the summit.”
A spokesperson for the DeSantis campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.
A spokesperson for the Nashua Police Department also did not respond to a request for comment Saturday.
According to his website, Mr. Quinn has attended more than 80 presidential campaigns since he was 10 years old and uses New Hampshire’s status as the first state in the nation to ask questions of candidates during the nomination process.
He said he hoped to hear former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speak on Friday, along with businessman Perry Johnson, a leading candidate.
At a town hall featuring Christie in April, Quinn asked another pointed question. “Would Hillary Clinton have been a better president than Trump?”
Christie, who was one of the former president’s most vocal critics in the Republican field, responded that he had chosen Trump in the 2016 election, calling this race “the biggest choice for Americans to hold their nose and vote.” That’s what I’ve said so far.
Almost two months later, it was DeSantis’ turn to answer a question from Quinn about Trump’s actions on January 6th.
“Did you go to high school?” DeSantis has faced criticism as a candidate for not being fluid in his interactions with voters and journalists, which he says led to some awkward interactions during the campaign. Told.
Florida’s governor changed his tune, claiming that if the 2024 election focuses on “re-litigating what happened two or three years ago,” we will lose.
Quinn said he didn’t think it was a coincidence that he was kicked out of the event Friday before DeSantis, who was scheduled to be absent, spoke.
“They know the story between me and DeSantis,” he said.
By the time he was cleared to return to the event, Quinn said he was able to overhear what DeSantis was saying. But when the governor opened the question, Quinn walked away.
“OK, one quick question: Do you understand anything?” DeSantis asked the audience.
Nicholas Nehamas Contributed to the report.