Gov. Ron DeSantis's (R-FL) spokesman said former President Donald Trump's team has revealed they are "panicked."

On Monday, Trump posted on Truth Social that "rumors" purported to say that "Ron DeSanctimonious" will be dropping out of the presidential race to run for Sen. Rick Scott's (R-FL) seat. In response, DeSantis's team hit back by claiming that spreading the rumor was evidence that the former president is panicking over DeSantis's performance at Wednesday's Republican debate.

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"Clearly, Donald Trump and his army of consultants are panicked about Ron DeSantis' winning debate performance and the strong momentum that has followed," Bryan Griffin, a press secretary for DeSantis's campaign, told Axios in a statement.

In the Truth Social post that prompted the statement, Trump claimed that DeSantis's poll numbers had "absolutely crashed" and said the campaign was in "shambles."

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"Rumors are strong in political circles that Ron DeSanctimonious, whose Presidential run is a shambles, and whose poll numbers have absolutely crashed, putting him 3rd and 4th in some states, will be dropping out of the Presidential race in order to run, in Florida, against Rick Scott for Senate. Now that’s an interesting one, isn’t it?" Trump wrote.

Trump decided not to attend Wednesday's debate, leaving DeSantis as the highest-polling Republican candidate on the stage. Despite this, Trump continues to poll higher; the latest Emerson poll, taken after the debate, has Trump polling at 50%, compared to DeSantis's 12%. Vivek Ramaswamy is close behind at 9%.