In an interview on Saturday, former president Donald Trump said he was under “total attack” because he is leading in the 2024 polls. He also took a shot at Florida’s Governor. Ron DeSantis.
“Total assault,” Trump told Bannon’s War Room podcast. “Because we’re winning in the polls.”
DeSantis has failed badly. Trump called Steven Bannon “Ron De-sanctimonious” and told him to pardon himself. “It is always bad. You’re promoting someone. He’s dead. His political career is over. He will be searching for a new job. He will be lucky if he gets a job. He comes to me and begs for an endorsement. I endorse him. He wins the election. He was in a bad place and they asked him, “When are you going to run against the President?’ I had no comment. No comment means yes.”
Trump pointed out that DeSantis has reportedly decided to form an exploratory group for a presidential run in 2024, despite having toured key states traditionally important in a GOP primary. “He will form an exploratory group to determine what he wants to do – that’s quite a step because he previously said he didn’t want to be involved in committees. He’s now looking at committees. “It’s amazing how being 40 down changes things,” Trump said to Bannon on Saturday. “The donors have largely left him now.”
Trump and Bannon discussed a book called “Letters To Trump” which contained correspondence between Trump with a variety of world leaders prior to his election as president.
During his podcast on Saturday, Trump mentioned that he was indicted in New York by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. He also discussed how Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis of Atlanta is investigating a phone call he called “perfect” between Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and him following the 2020 elections.
NBC News reported that DeSantis plans to declare his candidacy for president in mid-May, to counter the narrative that Trump would remain the GOP’s frontrunner in 2024.
DeSantis, when asked by reporters in Israel about the report, said: “I believe that a lot is secondhand material. So there haven’t been any things on which I’ve focused my attention.” “We will end up going around the globe by the time we are done. You know, if any announcements are made, they will be at the right time. It’s not that if someone tells you they somehow know that or that they don’t that it’s inaccurate because there hasn’t been justice.
Florida’s Commission on Ethics has, however, dismissed a complaint from Trump allies who accused DeSantis of coordinating a “shadow campaign.”
Make America Great Again Inc. (a pro-Trump PAC) accused DeSantis in a 15-page complaint filed in March of “illegal behavior”.
Taylor Budowich is a former Trump spokesman who now heads MAGA Inc. Taylor Budowich claimed that there was probable reason to investigate if the governor broke the law in fundraising through the Friends of Ron DeSantis PAC. He also said his team had interviewed political operatives from early primary states.
A spokesperson for DeSantis who, according to reports, is preparing to run for president by mid-May called the complaint frivolous and politically motivated and stated that it was “inappropriate” to use state ethics cases for partisan purposes.