Category Archives: Ron DeSantis

Republican contenders gather for key debate with Trump again absent

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Seven candidates face off at Ronald Reagan library in Simi Valley, California, with Republican frontrunner again choosing to skip

Seven Republican presidential contenders gathered in California on Wednesday night for the second primary debate of the 2024 election season, but the absence of Donald Trump, the clear frontrunner in the race for the party’s nomination, again loomed large over the event.

Seven candidates qualified for the second debate, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute in Simi Valley, California. Those candidates were Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, the former vice-president Mike Pence, the former UN ambassador and South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, the former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, and the North Dakota governor Doug Burgum.

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DeSantis struggles to shake Hurricane Idalia’s dark clouds after snub to Biden

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Florida governor aims to rescue flailing presidential campaign that has been further scarred by ‘petty and small’ snub of Biden’s visit

One reality of Florida politics is that a bad hurricane for the state traditionally blows good fortune for its governor. It was true for Rick Scott, elected a senator in November 2018, one month after guiding Florida through Category 5 Hurricane Michael; and again for Ron DeSantis, whose landslide re-election last year followed his much-praised handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.

This year, however, DeSantis is struggling to shake the dark clouds of Hurricane Idalia, as his return to the national stage to try to rescue his flailing presidential campaign after an 11-day break has been further scarred by his “petty and small” snub of Joe Biden’s visit to Florida last weekend to survey the storm’s damage.

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Florida supreme court to hear abortion case that could drastically limit access

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If state’s highest court upholds the 15-week ban, a separate, stricter law would take effect prohibiting abortion after six weeks

The Florida supreme court on Friday will hear arguments in a case that could drastically limit abortion access in the south-eastern United States.

Abortion providers in Florida filed a lawsuit to block the state’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

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Florida judge strikes down DeSantis-backed voting map as unconstitutional

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Circuit court judge rules proposal ‘results in the diminishment of Black voters’ ability to elect their candidate of choice’

A judge in Florida has ruled in favor of voting rights groups that filed a lawsuit against a congressional redistricting map approved by Ron DeSantis in 2022. Voting rights groups had criticized the map for diluting political power in Black communities.

In the ruling, Leon county circuit judge J Lee Marsh sent the map back to the Florida legislature to be redrawn in a way that complies with the state’s constitution.

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Biden tours Florida hurricane damage: ‘nobody can deny impacts of climate crisis’

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President arrives to survey damage left by Hurricane Idalia but governor Ron DeSantis has no plans to meet Biden

Joe Biden said that no one can deny the impacts of the climate crisis anymore after he visited Florida on Saturday and surveyed the damage left behind by Hurricane Idalia.

Speaking to reporters in front of fallen trees and debris, the US president pointed to this year’s extreme weather events and disasters, saying: “Nobody can deny the impact of climate crisis. There’s no real intelligence to deny the impacts of the climate crisis anymore.”

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Hurricane Idalia: Georgia declares state of emergency as severe flooding and storm surges hit south-eastern US – live

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The eye of Hurricane Idalia made landfall along the coast of the Florida Big Bend near Keaton Beach around 7.45am Eastern time, the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm’s maximum sustained winds were near 125 mph.

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Judge rules against Rudy Giuliani in Georgia election workers’ defamation suit – as it happened

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Trump’s former attorney ordered to pay attorneys’ fees of $89,172.50 for Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss

Jury selection will begin on 5 September in the contempt of Congress trial of Peter Navarro, a former White House aide to Donald Trump.

Navarro was indicted last year after failing to comply with two subpoenas from the bipartisan congressional committee investigating the January 6 attack. He attempted to argue that executive privilege concerns prevented him from cooperating with the panel, but a federal judge ruled against that defense today.

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‘It’s been festering in Florida’: DeSantis accused of hypocrisy over response to racist shooting

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Democrats criticize governor’s comments after shooting that left three Black people dead and say ‘this type of hatred isn’t random’

The booing that greeted Ron DeSantis as he showed up to a vigil in Jacksonville on Sunday for three Black people murdered by a white supremacist told quite a story. Nobody contradicted the Republican governor and presidential hopeful’s assertion that the killer was “a scumbag”, or that the racist killings were “totally unacceptable”.

Yet his comments raised eyebrows because of DeSantis’s previous attitude – indifference in the minds of many – to Nazis in the state rallying in his name; and his promotion of a succession of legislation designed to disenfranchise Black voters, and recast Florida’s racial history to teach forced labor as beneficial to the enslaved.

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State attorney says DeSantis fired her because she was ‘prosecuting their cops’

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Prosecutor Monique Worrell says law enforcement agencies in central Florida were ‘all working against me’

An elected Democratic prosecutor whose removal Ron DeSantis boasted about during the first Republican presidential debate said the hard-right Florida governor and his allies ousted her because she was “prosecuting their cops”.

Law enforcement agencies in central Florida were “all working against me”, Monique Worrell told the Daily Beast, “because I was prosecuting their cops, the ones who used to do things and get away with them”.

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Florida shooting: ‘White supremacy has no place in US,’ Biden says after killings

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A white man shot and killed two men and one woman – all three victims were Black – before fatally shooting himself yesterday

Joe Biden declared on Sunday that “white supremacy has no place in America” after three people were killed in a racist shooting in Florida and it emerged that the gunman had been turned away from a historically Black college or university (HBCU) campus moments before opening fire at a discount store.

Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, on Sunday called the gunman in the attack a “hateful lunatic” and said “we will not allow HBCUs to be targeted”.

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Republican debate live: eight presidential hopefuls take stage as Trump is a no-show

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Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence, Chris Christie, Doug Burgum, Tim Scott, Asa Hutchinson and Vivek Ramaswamy take stage in Milwaukee

Onstage at the Republican presidential debate tonight is the governor of North Dakota, Doug Burgum – who almost didn’t make it.

He has managed to make the event despite requiring crutches and wearing a boot after hurting his Achilles tendon while playing basketball.

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Trump co-defendant Mark Meadows seeks emergency order to protect him from arrest in Georgia – as it happened

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The Fulton county district attorney has advised several of Donald Trump’s co-defendants that they should surrender at the jail around 3am ET if they want a quick turnaround on their booking because it could take hours during the day, per people familiar.

Expect some surrenders in early hours.

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Pence won’t say if criminal conviction should rule Trump out as president

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Former vice-president who once voted to expel felon from Congress says American people should decide

Donald Trump’s former vice-president, Mike Pence, refused to say Trump should be barred from returning to the White House if he is convicted on any of 91 criminal charges against him.

“I think that he’s to be left to the American people,” Pence told ABC’s This Week, on Sunday. “Let’s have the former president have his day in court. Let’s maintain a presumption of innocence.”

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Ron DeSantis campaign suffers another blow after debate memos published

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Rightwing Florida governor’s talking points for the first Republican debate include defending Trump and attacking Biden

Seeking to resurrect his flagging US presidential campaign, Ron DeSantis suffered a major embarrassment when memos about his preparation for the first Republican debate were reported by the New York Times.

Including advice not to attack the clear frontrunner, Donald Trump, the memos to the rightwing Florida governor ahead of the debate in Milwaukee next Wednesday were posted online by a consulting firm owned by Jeff Roe, chief strategist to Never Back Down, a Super Pac backing DeSantis.

Attack Joe Biden and the media 3-5 times.

State [DeSantis’s] positive vision 2-3 times.

Hammer Vivek Ramaswamy in a response.

Defend Donald Trump in absentia in response to a Chris Christie attack.

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Prosecutor suspended by DeSantis says he’s a ‘weak dictator’ seeking attention

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Monique Worrell, second Democratic prosecutor DeSantis has removed, says elected officials are being suspended ‘by whim of the governor’

Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, suspended the top prosecutor in Orlando on Wednesday, claiming “dereliction of duty” on crime. In return, the prosecutor said DeSantis, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, was a “weak dictator” acting undemocratically and for political reasons.

Monique Worrell, the ninth judicial circuit state attorney, is the second Democratic prosecutor DeSantis has removed.

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DeSantis says Trump ‘of course lost’ in 2020 when pressed in interview

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Florida Republican governor admits Biden won as Trump leads DeSantis by more than 30 points in most polling averages

“Of course” Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, Ron DeSantis said in an interview broadcast Monday – after being pressed on the issue.

Appearing on NBC, the Florida governor and nearest challenger to Trump for the nomination in 2024 was asked: “Yes or no – did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?”

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AP Psychology can be taught ‘in its entirety’, says Florida official

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State had told superintendents the course violated a new law prohibiting content on sexual orientation and gender identity

Even though Florida’s government had told school superintendents that the Advanced Placement Psychology course offered to high school students violated the state’s new law prohibiting instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, it appears students may be able to take the course after all.

In a letter to state superintendents Friday, Florida’s education commissioner Manny Diaz Jr said the state believed the psychology course could be taught “in its entirety”.

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Ron DeSantis’s biggest donor to pull plug until campaign makes changes

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Hotel entrepreneur Robert Bigelow has contributed $20m to the Never Back Down Super Pac but is now wary of the slow campaign

Hotel entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, the biggest individual donor to a group supporting Ron DeSantis’s presidential bid, has said he will not donate more money unless the Florida governor attracts new major donors and adopts a more moderate approach.

The comments by Bigelow, who gave $20m to the pro-DeSantis Never Back Down Super Pac in March, to Reuters underscore donor concerns about the Florida governor’s struggling campaign.

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Florida tells schools AP Psychology course with LGBTQ+ content violates law

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Ron DeSantis’s government has banned instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, effectively also banning the class

Florida has told school superintendents that the Advanced Placement psychology course offered to high school students violates the state’s new law prohibiting instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, effectively banning the class, the non-profit that develops the courses said on Thursday.

The move is the latest by the administration of Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor, to limit instruction about LGBTQ+ issues and race in the state. DeSantis is challenging Donald Trump for the Republican nomination for president in 2024 and has made battles over cultural issues a centerpiece of his campaign.

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Trump faces four criminal counts as six co-conspirators listed in January 6 indictment – as it happened

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Special counsel Jack Smith to seek speedy trial and says January 6 was ‘fueled by lies’

University of Virginia political guru Larry Sabato took a look at the New York Times/Siena College poll released today, and what he found does not look good for Democrats:

The firm behind the Mountain Valley Pipeline said today that it expects work on the controversial natural gas conduit to be completed by the end of the year.

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