TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — Former President Donald Trump’s attacks on Governor Ron DeSantis have only just begun, a new report suggests.
“Trump’s team and his allied PAC are preparing an expansive opposition research file by poring over DeSantis’ record as a prosecutor, member of Congress, and Florida governor,” Politico’s Meredith McGraw reported on Wednesday.
“Among the items a Trump-allied group has drilled into is DeSantis’ record while serving as an assistant U.S. Attorney before running for congressional office, with plans to accuse him of being an ‘extremely lenient prosecutor’ in cases involving, among other things, child pornography.”
News of the file arrived just hours before a pro-Trump super PAC filed a 15-page complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics alleging that the governor has violated election laws in order to run a “shadow presidential campaign.” DeSantis’ office called the complaint a “frivolous and politically motivated attack.”
Although DeSantis has yet to declare for the 2024 presidential election, Trump has repeatedly criticized him over the past five months. Following the governor’s historic landslide election victory in November, Trump called him “an average Republican governor with great public relations.”
On Monday, Trump said he “probably” regrets his decision to endorse the governor in his 2018 primary election.
DeSantis has largely avoided directly responding to jabs, but fired back a thinly veiled shot at Trump last month.
“I spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida and fighting against Joe Biden,” the governor said. “I don't spend my time trying to smear other Republicans.”
