Donald Trump supporters have accused Ron DeSantis of violating election laws by running a “shadow presidential campaign,” indicating that the fight for the Republican nomination has heated up.
The Trump-backed Make America Great Again (MAGA) Inc. was expected to file a complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics on Wednesday, taking the pair’s feud from campaign trail rhetoric to a formal legal battle.
Governor DeSantis, 44, has not officially declared his candidacy for 2024 but is widely expected to do so in early summer, at the end of Florida’s legislative session.
According to a draft of the MAGA Inc complaint obtained by The Telegraph, he has already “checked all the boxes” for someone considering a presidential run, including making stops in early-voting states such as Iowa, writing a book, and raising tens of millions of dollars for a state-level committee that could be transferred to a federal super political action committee (PAC).
“Governor DeSantis must submit a resignation letter prior to his qualification for candidacy,” according to the lawsuit.
MAGA Inc, the main super PAC backing the former president’s candidacy, claims that those actions, taken together, violate a number of Florida Resign-to-Run laws prohibiting officeholders from accepting illegal gifts.
Legal experts believe the challenge will be dismissed, but if it is upheld, Mr. DeSantis could face a fine, ballot disqualification, removal from office, or impeachment.
Mr. DeSantis’ communications director, Taryn Fenske, called the action petty on Wednesday.
“Adding this to the list of frivolous and politically motivated attacks – using state ethics for partisan purposes is inappropriate,” she told NBC News.
The rivalry between the two conservative populists, which has been simmering for months, could erupt into a full-fledged war that threatens to split the Republican Party in two.
Mr. DeSantis is a former political protégé of Mr. Trump who is now expected to be his main opponent in the Republican primaries.
Mr. Trump has a large network of small-dollar donors, but his fundraising has slowed in the final months of 2022. Several big names who backed him in 2016 have already distanced themselves from him, including Blackstone Group’s Stephen Schwarzman and the Kochs.
The Club for Growth, a major anti-tax Republican organization, has already begun pouring millions of dollars into rival campaigns to prevent former Mr. Trump from winning the GOP nomination.
Meanwhile, Mr. DeSantis’ state-level PAC had approximately $70 million (£58 million) in the bank at the end of the year, which could be used in a potential 2024 campaign.
Mr. DeSantis was re-elected in November with a stunning double-digit victory, and he has since been polling ahead of Mr. Trump in various polls of likely Republican voters.
According to sources close to Trump’s camp, the 76-year-old is dissatisfied with the accolades heaped on his rival. According to the New York Times, he has been complaining to visitors to his Palm Beach mansion about a rival GOP power center 400 miles north in Florida’s state capital, Tallahassee.
Mr. Trump has referred to Mr. DeSantis as “Ron DeSanctimonious” and “Tiny D” in public. However, the governor has so far dismissed it.
Politico reported on Wednesday that Mr. Trump’s team has begun compiling “opposition research” on the Florida governor, hoping to delve into the former lawyer’s record as an assistant US attorney before running for Congress.
They intend to charge him with being an “extremely lenient prosecutor,” according to reports.
The Trump campaign intends to launch new attack lines against Mr. DeSantis, portraying him as a handpicked establishment favorite rather than the heir apparent to the MAGA throne.
“For a number of years, the team has felt like he (DeSantis) has had a free ride without scrutiny,” Bryan Lanza, who worked on Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign and remains close to his team, told Politico.
“He’s not MAGA just because he’s aggressive and willing to fight.”
The more this is highlighted, the more DeSantis will be exposed as just another member of the establishment.
