Tag: Donald

What happens next in People v. Donald Trump

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About one week from Tuesday
Prosecutors are expected to turn over to Trump’s defense team the first tranche of discovery materials, consisting of grand jury minutes and exhibits, as well as notes of witness statements for those who testified before the grand jury.
Around June 10
Prosecutors are expected to give the defense the second tranche of discovery materials, including materials they received in response to subpoenas, other witness materials and some police documents.
Date unknown
Prosecutors will hand over a third tranche of discovery materials, including certain internal emails from the district attorney’s office that are considered discoverable under the law. “Obviously, defense is entitled to see every single email discovery in this case, but those email messages tend not to be the most significant materials,” one of the assistant district attorneys told the judge on Tuesday.
Aug. 8
All motions must be filed with the court. Trump’s defense attorneys could file a motion to dismiss the indictment, a motion to argue that the statute of limitations has expired, or motion to argue that the charges should be downgraded to misdemeanors.
Sept. 19
Prosecutors must file their responses to Trump’s motions.
Dec. 4
The next court date in the case. The judge will issue his decisions on the motions. Blanche, Trump’s attorney, asked the judge to excuse Trump from appearing in person at this hearing, citing the cost and burden of the security measures required by his visit to the courthouse, but the judge denied that request. The judge added, however, that “if a reason were to come up that your client was unable to appear on that date — something unanticipated — you can certainly run that by me.”
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#People #Donald #Trump
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 6, 2023
Defiant Donald Trump pleads not guilty to all 34 criminal charges against him

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New York: Donald Trump, the first former US President to be criminally charged, has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records at his arraignment in a Manhattan court on charges relating to hush money payments made to a porn star before the 2016 presidential election.
The 76-year-old former president was arrested when he arrived to surrender at the Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday.
Trump, who became the first former US president to be indicted, arrested and arraigned on criminal charges, pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal charges of falsifying business records in person before State Supreme Court Justice Juan M Merchan.

Wearing a dark blue suit and red tie, a stone-faced Trump walked into the tightly-guarded courtroom with his steps heavy and slow and said “not guilty” in a firm voice while facing the judge.
He sat silently throughout almost the entire proceedings and only spoke when he was required to, either by pleading not guilty or by answering to the judge when addressed directly.
Speaking outside court after the arraignment, Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche said that his client is “frustrated” and “upset.” He accused the prosecutor of turning a “completely political issue” into a “political prosecution.” On the charges against Trump, Blanche said: “we’re going to fight it, fight it hard.” The historic indictment against Trump, was unsealed on Tuesday, providing the public and Trump’s legal team with details about the charges against him for the first time.
It includes charges of falsifying business records in connection with a hush payment that Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election.
Prosecutors alleged Trump was part of an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, including an illegal payment of USD 130,000 that was ordered by the defendant to suppress the negative information that would hurt his presidential campaign.

The reason he committed the crime of falsifying business records was in part to “promote his candidacy,” the indictment alleges.
Trump hid reimbursement payments to Cohen by marking monthly checks for “legal services,” according to the statement of facts, in a deal the two worked out in the Oval Office.
The payments stopped after December 2017, according to the document.
Trump has denied all wrongdoings in connection with the payments made to 44-year-old Daniels.
Trump left the Manhattan courtroom after his arraignment on Tuesday without making any statement.
The next in-person hearing date for Trump’s case is set for December 4 in New York, roughly two months before the official start of the 2024 Republican presidential primary calendar.
Trump flew back back to his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida, where he addressed a crowd in a roughly 25-minute speech.
He repeated many of his campaign talking points and argued that he has been the victim of a Democratic conspiracy to tank his re-election bid.
Trump said he “never thought anything like this could happen in America” on Tuesday night after he was arraigned in a New York courtroom.
“It’s an insult to our country,” he said.
“The only crime that I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it,” Trump said.
He criticised the indictment levelled against him, saying he is “going through a fake investigation” that “turned out to be a sham.” “Let me be as clear as possible: I am Innocent. The only offense I have committed is to defend America from those who seek to destroy it. What we’ve witnessed is election interference in the highest order,” he said.
“Let me assure you – I have never been more determined than I am right now. They will not beat me. They will not break me. They will not stop me from fighting to save this country. The more they try to frame me, slander me, and destroy me, the stronger my resolve to complete our mission,” Trump said.
He did not even spare the judge Juan Merchan who is overseeing his case.
The former president alleged that he is a “Trump hating judge” with the “Trump hating wife” and family “whose daughter works for Kamala house and now receives money from the Biden Harris campaign”.
Trump’s speech came after the judge did not place a gag order on him but warned him that the issue would be revisited if the ex-president continued with his heated rhetoric about the case.
A gag order would have prohibited Trump, his attorneys, other parties and witnesses from speaking about the case publicly.
The former president earlier arrived at the specially secured Manhattan courthouse in an eight-car motorcade. He was arrested as he arrived at the court.
Shortly after Trump was put under arrest, his campaign released a mugshot picture of him on a T-shirt saying not guilty.
President Joe Biden did not respond to questions from reporters when asked about Trump’s arraignment.
Trump is currently the front-runner among all declared and potential contenders for the 2024 Republican White House nomination. But there is nothing in US law that prevents a candidate who is found guilty of a crime from campaigning for and serving as president — even from prison.
Trump was twice impeached by the House of Representatives. He was acquitted by the Senate both times.
Hours before his arraignment, Trump sent an email to his supporters, which he claimed was the last one before his arrest, saying that the United States is becoming a “Marxist Third World” country and took to social media to question the fairness of the judiciary.
“My last email before my arrest,” Trump said in the subject line of the email.
The indictment was quickly criticised by Trump’s Republican allies.
“Trump is a textbook on positive thinking, he can convert any grave situation against him, to his best possible advantage. He will convert this week’s New York case, as a stepping stone to win back the White House in 2024,” Al Mason, a die-hard supporter of the former president, said in a statement.
Since news of his indictment first broke, the Trump campaign has raised millions and his poll numbers are skyrocketing, he said.
“God is with President Trump. He is a very good man. He will emerge even stronger after his arraignment today. In fact, this arrest of Trump is a blessing in disguise for Trump,” Mason said.
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#Defiant #Donald #Trump #pleads #guilty #criminal #charges
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 5, 2023
Donald Trump Is Not Ready For His Close-up

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n his life as a real estate mogul, aspirant socialite, game show host and former President of the United States, Donald Trump has posed for a lot of photographs. Clearly a fan of the camera, he’s even developed a trademark stance: a not-too-toothy grin, a thumbs up held at the waist, an almost full-body lean forward, leading with the chest in a way that seems to defy physics.
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#Donald #Trump #Ready #Closeup
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 5, 2023
The Day Donald Trump Surrendered

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It was a long day for former President Donald Trump, as he traveled from Trump Tower in midtown to the Manhattan Criminal Court, where he surrendered to law enforcement and learned the exact charges he faces for alleged hush money payments. And it was a long day for everyone else touched by the event, from supporters to opponents to lawyers, police and preachers.
The notoriously outspoken former president slipped in and out of the courthouse quietly in a black SUV. The crowd in lower Manhattan displayed their anger or approval before fixing their eyes on the sight of one of the most famous men in America, who was once president of the United States and who is now running to be president again, turning himself in for arrest.
Photographer Yunghi Kim spent the day with the crowds, and her photos captured the spectacle that even the former president called “surreal.”
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#Day #Donald #Trump #Surrendered
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 5, 2023
Donald Trump becomes first former US President to be arrested

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New York: Former President Donald Trump surrendered on Tuesday at a local court here, making history as the first former holder of the US’ highest office to be arrested.
He will now face charges stemming from a payoff to a porn star to buy her silence.
After he was booked like a common crime suspect — except he was not handcuffed or paraded around — he was waiting to be taken before New York State’s Acting Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to be formally charged.

Given his status, the arrest took place under the watchful eye of the Secret Service that is charged with protecting former presidents making it an odd scenario.
Trump came in a convoy from his Trump Tower penthouse four miles away to the building housing the local courts as his supporters and opponents held separate rallies.
He was taken in through a side entrance.
Trump became the first former President to be arrested and face a trial in the nation’s 246-year history, plunging the US into unchartered legal and political territory.
He is also a candidate for next year’s presidential election, the leading candidate for the Republican nomination, and only two per cent behind President Joe Biden in an aggregation of polls by RealClear Politics.

Trump is facing charges relating to a payoff he allegedly made before the 2016 election through his former lawyer Michael Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels who claimed to have had an affair with him in 2006.
Cohen was convicted in a federal court in connection with the $130,000 payoffs and sentenced to three years. Federal prosecutors declined to prosecute Trump.
Cohen is the prime witness in the local New York case.
The charges, handed down by a grand jury – a panel of citizens convened to decide if there was a prima facie case – are under seal and will be unsealed shortly in court.
Since hush money payments and extra-martial affairs are not illegal, it is likely that the charges will be about bookkeeping irregularities in how they were recorded and if they can be made out to be in violation of campaign finance laws.
Some leaks reported by the media have said that Trump will be bludgeoned with over two dozen charges, some of them serious criminal allegations or felonies with a maximum sentence of four years in prison.
In a social media post, Trump asked Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg to charge himself for violating the laws against disclosure of a sealed indictment before it is released in court.
Trump’s lawyers have said that he will fight the charges at the trial that will be months away.
Bragg, a Democrat elected prosecutor in a partisan election, is to hold a news conference in the afternoon after Trump is produced before Merchan, whom Trump had personally attacked saying, “He hates me”.
Trump is scheduled to fly back to his home in Mar-a-Lago in Florida on his private Boeing 757 after his arraignment in court and hold a meeting there later.
The city was under a blanket of heavy security with police on the alert.
Areas around Trump Towers and the courthouses were barricaded with steel fences and police buses.
Screaming protesters trading insults across a barrier were kept apart by police.
Trump had warned of “potential death and destruction” after the indictment was announced on Thursday.
The protest outside the courthouse was called by a right-wing Republican member of the House of Representatives, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is known for her extreme rhetoric, drawing a warning from Mayor Eric Adams, “”When you’re in town, be on your best behaviour”.
Greene’s speech was drowned out by anti-Trump protesters.
So far, the protests have been in a carnival atmosphere with even a dancing semi nude anti-Trump protester shouting foul-mouthed challenges to him.
There was no rioting like the attack on Congress in January 2021 by his supporters buying into Trump’s claims that President Biden had “stolen” the election.
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#Donald #Trump #President #arrested
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 4, 2023
Ex-US President Donald Trump arrives in NY to face criminal charges

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New York: Former US President Donald Trump has arrived here to face arraignment in a Manhattan court on charges related to paying hush money to a porn star during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump, 76, flew to New York City in his Boeing 757 aircraft from his Mar-a-Lago home on Monday and arrived at the La Guardia airport around 3 pm EST (12.30 am IST).
His motorcade then made its way to the Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in Manhattan where he will stay for the night. Streets around the high-end Trump Tower have been cordoned off, with heavy police presence in and around the area.

The former President waved at scores of his supporters as he came out from the SUV and was escorted immediately inside the building.
Trump, the first former US president to face a criminal charge, will appear before Judge Juan Merchan at 2.15 pm EST (11.45 pm IST) on Tuesday.
American media has quoted Trump’s attorneys as saying that the former president will plead not guilty. After his court appearance, Trump will immediately fly back to Florida where he will deliver remarks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach in the evening.
The arraignment proceeding is expected to be brief. The charges in the indictment will be read to him at the hearing, which is set to last about 10-15 minutes. Trump has denied all wrongdoings in connection with the payments made to Stormy Daniels, 44, ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
The indictment comes as Trump faces legal hurdles in other potential criminal cases. Trump is currently the front-runner among all declared and potential contenders for the 2024 Republican White House nomination. But there is nothing in the US law that prevents a candidate, who is found guilty of a crime, from campaigning for and serving as President — even from prison.

Trump was twice impeached by the House of Representatives. He was acquitted by the Senate both times.
Trump and his aides are using the indictment to rile up his supporters and bolster his 2024 re-election campaign.
“It’s hard to believe that I will be ARRESTED tomorrow as a result of the most disgraceful witch hunt in our nation’s history,” a Trump Campaign mail titled Tomorrow, I will be arrested’ said, as it urged voters to make a “contribution” to his campaign given that the “fate of our Republic” is “on the line”.
Trump’s team claimed that he has “raised over USD 4 million” in the 24 hours following Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s “unprecedented political persecution of the President, and blatant interference in the 2024 election against the leading Republican presidential candidate”.
Another Trump Campaign email said that November 5, 2024 “will no longer just be an Election Day. It will be our Vindication Day. When we win, it will be a vindication for our movement but also a vindication for America”.
President Joe Biden, who was travelling to Minnesota, refrained from commenting on the legal battle that his predecessor is facing. Talking to reporters in Minneapolis, he exuded confidence that law and order would be maintained in New York City.
“I have faith in the New York Police Department,” he said.
“The president is focused on delivering for the American people. That’s what he wakes up and thinks about each day. We’re on our way to Minnesota where we’ll talk about the Invest in America tour,” Olivia Dalton, White House Deputy Press Secretary, told reporters during an Air Force One gaggle.
“He’s also talking about all the ways in which they’ve created an ecosystem for the private sector to invest in America as well,” Dalton said in response to a question.
Last week, Trump had exuded confidence that he would win “this battle” as well as the 2024 presidential elections.
“When this election is over, I will be the president of the United States, you will be vindicated and proud, and the thugs and criminals who are corrupting our justice system will be defeated, discredited, and totally disgraced,” Trump had said.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 4, 2023
Former US President Donald Trump may surrender in New York on April 3

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New York: Former US President Donald J. Trump has prepared to surrender to prosecutors in Manhattan next week as the New York police braced for protests and sharply partisan responses from Democrats and Republicans ushered in a tumultuous time for a deeply polarised nation, New York Times reported.
A day after a grand jury indicted Trump and made him the first former president to face criminal charges, metal barricades were up around the criminal courthouse on Centre Street in Lower Manhattan.
Dozens of reporters and camera crews camped out across the street on Friday, while 20 court officers stood at the courthouse entrances, monitoring activity on the street, New York Times reported.

Trump intends to travel to New York on Monday and stay the night at Trump Tower, people familiar with his preparations said. He has no plans to hold a news conference or address the public while he is in New York, the people said.
Trump remained largely quiet on Friday at Mar-a-Lago, his resort in Florida, where he spent the day talking on the telephone with advisers. One of his lawyers, Joe Tacopina, said in a television interview that the former president would not take a plea deal and was prepared to go to trial, a typically defiant stance that is likely to endear him to his supporters, who see the prosecution as a politically motivated vendetta by Democrats, New York Times reported.
Late on Friday afternoon, Trump burst out on Truth Social, the social media platform he founded, writing in all capital letters that Democrats were “INDICTING A TOTALLY INNOCENT MAN IN AN ACT OF OBSTRUCTION AND BLATANT ELECTION INTERFERENCE.” He concluded that it was all happening “WHILE OUR COUNTRY IS GOING TO HELL!”
The former president is expected to be arraigned in Manhattan criminal court on charges related to payments made just before the 2016 presidential election to buy the silence of a porn star who said she had an extramarital affair with him. The former president, who has denied the affair, has been charged with more than two dozen counts in a sealed indictment, according to two people familiar with the matter, although the exact charges remain unknown, New York Times reported.
The case, which could drag on for months and whose outcome is far from clear, is likely to test the country’s institutions and the rule of law. It will also have deep repercussions for the 2024 campaign for the White House, a race in which Trump remains the Republican front-runner.

Even many of Trump’s potential rivals for the Republican presidential nomination snapped into line behind him in the hours after news of the indictment broke, looking more like allies than competitors. All passed on the opportunity to criticize the former president and some rushed to his defence in a sign of just how reluctant 2024 contenders are to directly confront him and antagonize his many millions of supporters in the party, New York Times reported.
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a potential presidential candidate who has clashed with Trump, rushed to his defence, posting on Twitter that the indictment was “un-American” and amounted to “the weaponization of the legal system.”
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 2, 2023
A popular phrase coined by a judge in 1985 led to the appearance of ham sandwiches on the Hill on Friday, another show of support for Donald Trump by a GOP lawmaker.

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Barry Moore offered ham and cheese sandwiches from his office in Longworth.

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#popular #phrase #coined #judge #led #appearance #ham #sandwiches #Hill #Friday #show #support #Donald #Trump #GOP #lawmaker
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 31, 2023
Opinion | The Painful Lesson Donald Trump Could Learn from R. Kelly and Michael Avenatti

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But today’s announcement is not good news for Trump. Even if he ultimately beats the charges in Manhattan, the mere fact that he is facing charges there will make it more difficult for him to defend himself in criminal cases elsewhere, be it Fulton County, federal court in Washington, or Florida where a classified documents case might be filed.
I’ve defended clients who face charges in multiple jurisdictions at the same time, and it’s a challenge. One might think that each case stands on its own merits, but in reality there is a multiplier effect that works against defendants. Instead of considering the best move in any one particular case, defense counsel have to consider how their words or actions in one case (Manhattan, for example) will impact other cases, including ones that haven’t been charged yet. Defending a client facing charges in multiple jurisdictions requires a defense team to weigh competing priorities and play three-dimensional chess while the prosecutors in each case can focus like a laser on the case at hand.
Don’t believe me? Just ask the beleaguered lawyers who defended R. Kelly in a wide-ranging racketeering case in New York federal court, an obstruction and child pornography case in Chicago federal court, a solicitation of a minor and child prostitution case in Minnesota state court, and a child sex abuse case in Chicago state court at the same time. They managed to ensure that the weakest case — the New York racketeering case — went first. But Kelly lost in both New York and Chicago federal court, even though some of his Chicago co-defendants were acquitted, and he was subsequently sentenced to 31 years in federal prison.
Michael Avenatti, who once represented Trump accuser Stormy Daniels, faced a similar meat grinder. In late March 2019, Avenatti was charged by federal prosecutors in New York with attempting to extort $25 million from Nike. On the same day, federal prosecutors in California charged Avenatti with wire fraud and bank fraud. Less than a month later, he was charged with embezzling money from clients. A month after that, prosecutors charged him with defrauding Daniels out of proceeds from her book deal. Avenatti lost the Nike extortion trial in New York in early 2020. Two years later, he pleaded guilty to stealing millions of dollars from his clients in California. The bottom line is that he prevailed in none of the cases and is due to be released in 2026.
One of the challenges facing most defendants who juggle cases in multiple jurisdictions is a drain on resources and attention. By the time Avenatti stood trial in California, he was out of funds and represented himself. Kelly, a multiple platinum-selling R&B singer whose net worth was once estimated at nearly $100 million, was so broke that he was unable to post $100,000 in bail. Trump likely won’t have that problem, so long as he can continue to pay for his legal bills using money raised by his political action committee.
But a conviction can be a problem for a defendant like Trump in a later trial. By the time Avenatti and Kelly reached their second trials, they were both convicted felons, which made it difficult for either to take the stand in his own defense. One of R. Kelly’s co-defendants testified for over four hours, and was ultimately acquitted, but Kelly couldn’t even consider doing so given his prior conviction. Trump needs a clean sweep in Manhattan to avoid a similar fate. Even a conviction on a misdemeanor falsifying business records charge, for example, would potentially be admissible to impeach Trump’s credibility if he testified in a federal trial.
Even if Trump is acquitted in Manhattan, that case might still create problems for his legal team. Typically, defense attorneys avoid taking positions — or having their clients say much at all — because every word from the client can be used against him in subsequent proceedings. If Trump takes the witness stand in Manhattan, prosecutors in other jurisdictions can comb through the transcript for nuggets to use against him in other trials.
Of course, Trump’s lawyers also appear to be unable to keep him from speaking publicly about the Manhattan charges. Those public statements, outside of a courtroom, can be used against him too.

The documents produced by Trump’s team in the Manhattan case can be obtained and used by prosecutors elsewhere. The legal positions he takes can preclude him from taking the opposite position elsewhere. A judge would be far less likely to take Trump’s position seriously in a subsequent case if he had taken a contradictory position earlier. The witnesses who testify on his behalf will never surprise another prosecutor again with their presence or their testimony.
When I was a federal prosecutor, the defense attorneys who gave me the most trouble were nimble and aggressive, hitting me with arguments and evidence that I did not expect. But it’s difficult to be nimble or aggressive when you have to consider how each word you say and action you take impacts multiple other cases that have been or could be brought against your client. That is the unenviable position that Trump’s attorneys find themselves in.
To be clear, Trump is not going to prison simply because multiple prosecutors might indict him simultaneously. Facts matter, of course, and defendants have tools they can use to manage this difficult situation. Trump’s team could try to employ a strategy used by the attorneys for the late Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, who requested a speedy trial in his corruption case and won an acquittal. But there was only one case against Stevens and it was weak from the start. (A subsequent investigation revealed that federal prosecutors withheld evidence beneficial to Stevens.)
Trump and his team can take solace that the first prosecutor up to the plate has a relatively weak case, but no one with experience handling multiple cases at once would argue that Wednesday was a good day for Team Trump. They face the prospect of a multi-front war and they may not have the luxury of fighting one battle at a time.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 31, 2023
Ron DeSantis has one very big problem: Donald Trump

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DeSantis was compelled to reverse course on his public skepticism about the war in Ukraine following criticism from mainstay Republicans. His poll numbers have dipped. And he was dragged into the very thing he’d been trying to avoid: a public brawl with his chief rival, Donald Trump, whose attack dogs smelled blood.
Even Republicans eager to see DeSantis succeed agree that he has been put in a bind.
“This week was a momentum speed bump for DeSantis — not only for his flat response to the Trump indictment and his Ukraine comment, but also just because Trump sucked up all the wind in the room,” said a New York Republican elected official who is leaning toward supporting DeSantis and was granted anonymity for fear of retribution from either candidate.
DeSantis’ defenders say he’s handled Trump’s legal troubles deftly — ignoring them until asked, then zinging the former president in his answer while taking a larger swing at the Democratic district attorney who is bringing the charges.
“I think he’s handled it well. It’s not his issue, he addressed it, he was able to take a shot at Trump and [he] moved on. I don’t know that he could have done any more than that,” said Bill McCoshen, a Wisconsin-based Republican strategist.
Other Republicans say Trump isn’t his only problem.
“The way he’s handling the potential Trump issue is fine. I think he’s been clever with it. … But Ukraine — he really put himself in a box I think,” said Rob Stutzman, a GOP strategist who handled communications for former Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. “It was very driven not so much to mimic Trump but to ingratiate himself with donors that are smitten with him.”
The DeSantis team declined comment.

The conundrum DeSantis finds himself facing is among the first indications that he may struggle with the same political dynamics that have tripped up past Trump opponents: Align yourself too closely and get tagged as a cheap imitation; attack him and be tarred as a traitor to the cause.
“I don’t think there’s a right playbook unfortunately,” said Jason Roe, who worked on the 2016 presidential campaign of Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.
Trump’s team is certainly armed with counterattacks.
The former president’s campaign has already compiled an extensive opposition research file on the Florida governor and has decided that full bore attacks will allow them to define DeSantis before he even enters the race. Trump’s advisers believe DeSantis’ shifting positions on issues like Social Security spending and Ukraine, his avoidance of the national press, and his underhanded swipes at Trump are backfiring.
“He is walking right into a trap we couldn’t have laid any better,” said a Trump adviser who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe how the ex-president’s team is discussing DeSantis. “He’s going to attack Trump on things Trump has been attacked on for eight years. What else new is he going to say? In the perfectly scripted, robotic world of Ron DeSantis this strategy would make sense.”
As he figures out how to handle Trump, DeSantis has seen his poll numbers sag: A Monmouth University Poll released Tuesday found the former president gaining on DeSantis. A Morning Consult survey showed Trump leading DeSantis 54-to-26 among potential GOP primary voters. And a CNN poll placed Trump in the lead, though by a much smaller margin.
There are signs that DeSantis is beginning to recalibrate his approach. He snapped back at Trump in an interview with Piers Morgan, set to air Thursday night, according to a preview released in the Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post. And he drew subtle contrasts with the ex-president when asked about the nicknames and taunts that Trump has thrown his way.
“I mean, you can call me whatever you want, just as long as you also call me a winner because that’s what we’ve been able to do in Florida, is put a lot of points on the board and really take this state to the next level,” DeSantis said in an exclusive interview with Fox Nation, a favorable outlet for him.
It wasn’t the first time he’s opted to respond to Trump: In November, he dismissed the ex-president’s criticisms as “noise” and urged critics to “check out the scoreboard” from his re-election landslide victory.
Roe, who advised Rubio when the Senator had to deal with Trump’s verbal bombs in 2016, suggested that DeSantis stand his ground but avoid a tit for tat with the former president. Back then, Rubio responded to Trump’s “Little Marco” taunt with one of his own — suggestively remarking on Trump’s “small” hands. But, Roe lamented, “it didn’t wear well.”
“Every interview that I had was responding to something Trump did, said or tweeted and it was always. ‘What’s your reaction?’” Roe said. “You’re not going to win in an insult slugfest with Donald Trump. That’s his strength.”
The question of how intensely DeSantis should respond to Trump is one he will have to answer. And it could very well be that he settles on a less-is-more formula.
“Why would he mess with this ‘do as little as possible’ strategy when it has been relatively successful for him?” said Fergus Cullen, a Republican politician in the early voting state of New Hampshire.
Cullen, a self-avowed “Never Trumper” who hasn’t picked a 2024 candidate yet, said DeSantis has enjoyed the benefit of elusion.
“People project onto him what they want to see in him, and that’s a really nice place to be politically,” Cullen said. “Can’t last forever.”
Meridith McGraw contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 24, 2023