Trump's team has accused Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis of running an unofficial 2024 campaign.
In an email, the Trump campaign said DeSantis is engaging in "taxpayer-funded globetrotting."
The accusation comes after MAGA Inc., a Trump super PAC, filed an ethics complaint against DeSantis.
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Former President Donald Trump's team has launched a fresh attack on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, accusing him of "taxpayer-funded globetrotting."
An email from the Trump campaign on Monday accused DeSantis of not formally declaring a 2024 presidential run and using his governor's salary to fund unofficial campaign travels.
"Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is currently on a month-long, taxpayer-funded presidential campaign schedule paid for by Florida taxpayers, and new questions are emerging as to whether this will force DeSantis to resign from office," read the campaign's email.
Under Florida's "resign to run" law, candidates running for other offices must resign from their current post at least 10 days before running for the position they desire.
The Trump campaign email accused DeSantis of planning a countrywide tour this month, including stops in Georgia, Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, Ohio, New Hampshire, Utah, Texas, and South Carolina.
The Trump campaign also said that DeSantis is using international trips to "score some last-minute foreign policy credentials for his 2024 presidential campaign" and further accused the governor of "taxpayer-funded globetrotting."
The governor has plans to visit Japan in April, per the Yomiuri Shimbun, a Japanese news outlet that cited sources familiar with the matter. The Florida governor also intends to visit Israel, per the Associated Press.
"Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to campaign full-time for president, during the Florida legislative session, while collecting a salary and having the taxpayers pick up the costs for his travel and security. It's a massive flip-flop from his position in 2018," Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesman, said in the email.
Cheung did not provide further evidence or substantiation to support his claim that tax dollars fund DeSantis' overseas and domestic travels.
The Trump campaign's fresh accusations come weeks after Florida Democrat Nikki Fried filed an ethics complaint against DeSantis. The March 27 complaint accused DeSantis of attending a $235,000 donor-funded retreat at the Four Seasons in Palm Beach, Florida.
Separately, MAGA Inc. — a Trump-linked super PAC —filed an ethics complaint against DeSantis on March 14. The complaint accused DeSantis of soliciting and receiving "millions of dollars worth of illegal gifts in violation of Florida State ethics laws and the Florida Constitution," per a copy of the document obtained by NBC News.
If DeSantis officially announces his 2024 bid, he will be Trump's biggest rival for the GOP presidential ticket.
And while DeSantis has not officially announced a 2024 presidential run, he has been visiting cities around the US as part of a tour for his new book, "The Courage to Be Free: Florida's Blueprint for America's Revival." His book tour is widely regarded as a precursor to his presidential run.
Representatives for Trump and DeSantis did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider sent outside of regular business hours.
poop_scallions on April 11st, 2023 at 16:30 UTC »
The back story to this that FL has a law that says you have to resign to run for certain other positions whose terms would overlap.
So DeSantis becoming President in 2024 would overlap with his governor term that runs till 2026. So now that he is campaigning, he needs to resign.
However, back in the day the law was changed by FL Republicans so that you dont have to resign back when Charlie Crist (then FL Republican governor) was being talked about as John McCains running mate.
Then FL Republicans changed the law back so that you do have to resign.
So fast-forward to today - some FL Republicans are talking about changing the law again so that DeSantis can run without having to resign. (Which some MAGA FL Republican legislators are opposed).
And now Trump is threatening the FL legislature to not change the law so that DeSantis does have to resign.
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1645483173533425672
But hey - lets have our legislators spend time on this and not on fixing food prices, gas prices, home owners insurance or rent prices!....
Squirrel_Chucks on April 11st, 2023 at 16:24 UTC »
I mean...they aren't wrong about that!
Florida has a Resign to Run law that would require DeSantis to resign the governorship if he wanted to run for POTUS.
Desantis is trying his hardest to campaign without announcing he is doing it. He's really trying to stall until Florida Republicans try to change the rules for him.
Trumps minions aren't wrong about DeSantis abusing taxpayer money to campaign, but they are hardly acting in good faith.
100% they would be cool with this if DeSantis was still copacetic with Trump and if he was running for, say, Senate.
It's like how Sean Hannity said Democratic AZ gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs should have resigned from her Sec of State position when she ran but he didn't have a goddamn thing to say when Brian Kemp did the same in GA.
maxxspeed on April 11st, 2023 at 16:15 UTC »
Nothing pisses a grifter off more than seeing someone out grift them.