Staff calls and puppies: DeSantis lays low on day Trump is arraigned
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
On the day former President Donald Trump was arraigned in a New York City courtroom, Gov. Ron DeSantis spent time with puppies across the street from the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee.
DeSantis attended a pet adoption event hosted by the Republican Party of Florida late on Tuesday afternoon. He was accompanied by his wife, First Lady Casey DeSantis, and their three children, Madison, Mason and Mamie.
The governor kept a low profile and the press away. At the outdoor event featuring an ice cream truck, dozens of puppies and face-painting for kids, his political team asked three reporters to leave, saying the event was closed to the press.
Before attending the pet adoption event, the governor made no public appearances. He held meetings with legislative staff at his office in the state Capitol, where the legislative session is taking place. He also appointed Knute Nathe to the Pasco County Court.
The low-key approach Tuesday underscores the potential political landmines facing a politician widely regarded as Trump’s chief competition for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, whose remarks about the former president’s legal troubles receive close scrutiny.
Staying silent and focusing on his job is the politically wise approach, some Republican strategists say.
“In the middle of the legislative session, it’s smart for him to do his job,” said Anthony Pedicini, a GOP strategist in Florida. “And his job doesn’t have anything to do with what the Manhattan DA is doing.”
His normally active Facebook accounts were absent of any posts by Tuesday evening, and on Twitter, an account run by his political team only posted about the pet adoption event. Even communication aides who are usually abuzz on social media were quiet about the day’s news and made no mention of the former president’s arraignment.
While DeSantis was mum on Tuesday about Trump’s legal troubles, he did come out in support of the former president soon after the indictment was announced last week. The governor called the case “the weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda.”
READ FOR YOURSELF: Here’s what Trump’s newly unsealed indictment says
DeSantis has not commented on the specific charges against Trump, who is facing 34 felony charges in connection to a hush money payment made to a porn star during the 2016 presidential election. Trump is the first former president to face criminal charges.
Shift in tone
DeSantis has spent most of this year making headlines both nationally and in the state. In recent weeks, the governor has also embarked on a book tour across the country that has seen him delivering closely watched speeches in many key political battlegrounds.
Some veteran politicians said that given Trump’s still strong support within the party, DeSantis had few other options. Making news of any kind could be seen as a distraction from what Republican voters perceive as a major injustice, they say.
“It’s the wisest political strategy,” said David Jolly, a former Republican congressman. “It’s also the only available political strategy.”
DeSantis wasn’t the only marquee politician keeping his head down amid the arraignment.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre acknowledged that Biden would likely catch up on the news coverage at some point, but she said that Trump’s case was not a focus for the president.
“It’s an ongoing case, so we’re just not going to comment, on the case specifically itself,” Jean-Pierre said. “The president’s going to focus on the American people, like he does every day. This is not something that is a focus for him.”
READ MORE: ‘Un-American’: DeSantis, Florida GOP rally in support of Trump after indictment
In a way, DeSantis tried to do just that on Tuesday.
His wife, First Lady Casey DeSantis, hosted a press event at the governor’s mansion with the head of the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation and several animal rescue groups, to promote pet adoptions in an effort to reduce euthanasia rates at animal shelters across the state.
“We are bringing together some of the smart people in the world of pets to help our four-legged friends,” the first lady said before inviting about two dozen people at the public event to attend the pet adoption event that was handled by the political team and closed to the press.
The governor and his family do not have a pet of their own. But the first lady joked that the kids had shown interest in an eight-week-old, dark gray Catahoula Leopard puppy named Rose.
DeSantis’ defense of Trump
DeSantis has defended Trump from the indictment ahead of Tuesday’s arraignment, arguing that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had unfairly targeted a leading Republican while ignoring violent crimes against average people.
He linked his criticism of Bragg to highlight his own effort last year to remove a Democratic prosecutor from office, Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren, saying that liberal prosecutors must be reined in.
A federal judge ruled that DeSantis violated the state’s Constitution when he removed Warren from office, but said the suspension could not be overturned by a federal court. As a result, the judge, Robert L. Hinkle of the U.S. District Court of Tallahassee, said the court could not reinstate Warren to his elected office.
DeSantis’ forceful pushback against Bragg marked a minor shift in tone for DeSantis in response to Trump’s indictment. In March, when reports first emerged that the former president faces the prospect of a criminal indictment, the governor blasted the district attorney for a politically motivated prosecution but also highlighted the lurid nature of the charges.
“Look, I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair,” DeSantis said. “I can’t speak to that.”
His initial response received pushback from some Trump loyalists, including one of the former president’s sons, that it was insufficiently supportive.
By last week, the governor had removed any mention of “hush money” from his comments about the charges.
DeSantis has not formally declared that he will seek the presidency next year, although he is widely expected to launch a campaign after the state legislative session ends. Early hypothetical polls of the 2024 GOP primary show him receiving the second most support of all potential candidates, trailing only Trump.
But many recent surveys show the former president, bolstered by concern of the indictment, gaining ground with Republican voters. A Fox News poll released last week found Trump receiving 54% support from GOP voters, up 11 percentage points from February.
DeSantis had slipped four points since February, from 28% to 24%.
