DeSantis news – latest: Florida governor most popular with rich Republicans as he defends move to fly migrants to California

DeSantis on campaign trail hoping to raise national profile as 2024 race hots up

Ron DeSantis snaps at reporter who asked why he wasn’t taking questions from the public

Florida governor Ron DeSantis appears to be the preferred Republican candidate among right-leaning millionaires, according to the latest CNBC Millionaire Survey, although his arch-rival and front-runner Donald Trump is seemingly also picking up support among wealthy Americans.

The poll shows that 32 per cent of Republicans with qualifying millionaire status currently support Mr DeSantis, a drop from 54 per cent at the end of 2022, while Mr Trump now has the backing of 28 per cent, up from 17 per cent last year.

Meanwhile, the governor has met with sheriffs in Arizona and defended his state’s recent decision to fly migrants from the US-Mexico border to Sacramento, California, a move widely derided as a cruel political stunt but which he insisted was above board because the west coast state had essentially invited them with its liberal immigration policies.

“I think the border should be closed. I don’t think we should have any of this,” Mr DeSantis said. “But if there’s a policy to have an open border, then I think the sanctuary jurisdictions should be the ones that have to bear that.”

Key Points

• Inside the bitter rivalry between Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom
• Millionaires support Ron DeSantis but Trump support growing, says poll
• California investigating whether DeSantis involved in flying asylum-seekers from Texas to Sacramento
• Showtime documentary on DeSantis’s Guantanamo Bay career mysteriously dropped
• DeSantis wraps up first early states tour with attack on Biden

[10 July 2023 14:00 · John Bowden]

DeSantis nervously laughs when asked about campaign ‘failure to launch’ in Fox News interview

Ron DeSantis is once again facing awkward questions (and giving awkward responses) around the subject of his poll numbers, which have stagnated and dropped in some cases amid Donald Trump’s two criminal indictments.

The latest journalist to question Mr DeSantis on the issue did so on Fox News, and appeared to suggest that it was all over for him.

“What’s going on with your campaign?” Sunday Morning Futures host Maria Bartiromo asked. “There was a lot of optimism about you running for president earlier in the year. … What happened?!”

Watch the governor’s response here:

[10 July 2023 13:30 · John Bowden]

Trump’s encounter with Guy Fieri at UFC fight sparks mixed reactions

Donald Trump attended an Ultimate Fighting Championship event in Las Vegas on Saturday night after a volunteer event for his Nevada primary campaign.

While the former president was met with cheers from the crowd and high-fived supporters at the T-Mobile Arena for UFC 290, his interactions with some of the notable names present caused a mixed reaction online.

[10 July 2023 13:00 · John Bowden]

Trump lawyer Alina Habba leaves his defence team in New York fraud case

Donald Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba has stepped down from her role defending the former president in the fraud lawsuit filed against him by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Ms Habba has taken up a new role with Mr Trump’s Save America leadership political action committee.

The Independent has more on the changing dynamics of Mr Trump’s legal team:

[10 July 2023 12:00 · John Bowden]

Comment: What bringing Trump back would mean for Ukraine – and conflict in the rest of the world

Mary Dejevsky writes:

Joe Biden’s visit to the UK this weekend, when he will meet the prime minister and the king, could serve as a welcome reminder about where political power – and responsibility – currently resides on both sides of the Atlantic.

I say this, because some of the recent running on arguably the most urgent international issue of the day has been made by someone who has no power whatever, but eyes a return. Step forward (as if he needed any invitation to do so) Donald Trump, who spoke at some length this week about wanting a peaceful outcome in Ukraine, even if this entailed territorial concessions on the part of Kyiv.

Read on...

[10 July 2023 11:30 · John Bowden]

Voices: The Freedom Caucus booting Marjorie Taylor Greene looks worse for them than it does for her

After a whirlwind few weeks for the far-right House Freedom Caucus, The Independent’s Eric Garcia explains what is really going on behind the scenes with Marjorie Taylor Greene’s expulsion.

[10 July 2023 11:00 · John Bowden]

Donald Trump high-fives fans at UFC 290 in Las Vegas

Former US president Donald Trump attended UFC 290 on Saturday night, emerging to cheers and high-fiving fans at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Mr Trump is known to be friends with UFC president Dana White, who has supported the 77-year-old during his past campaigns, and who walked Trump to his seat on Saturday night. He was also seen talking to actor Mel Gibson, and celeb chef Guy Fieri.

At one point, the former president walked over to the commentary desk, briefly interrupting analysts Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier while they were speaking.

[10 July 2023 10:00 · John Bowden]

‘What the hell is a Blizzard?’

[10 July 2023 09:00 · John Bowden]

DoJ Trump probes have cost more than $9m

Special Counsel Jack Smith‘s investigations of President Donald Trump‘s retention of classified records and efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election have cost more than $9m over the first several months, according to documents released Friday.

Read more...

[10 July 2023 07:00 · John Bowden]

Fox News host gives blunt assessment of poll numbers to DeSantis

Several hosts at the usually Ron DeSantis-friendly Fox News have now asked the Florida governor about his low poll numbers as former President Donald Trump still dominates the Republican primary polls.

Mr DeSantis is currently the runner-up in the GOP polling, but he’s behind Mr Trump by a substantial margin with recent polls showing Trump leading by 27 percentage points, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Here’s what Will Cain asked Mr DeSantis:

[10 July 2023 06:00 · John Bowden]

ICYMI: Mar-a-Lago CCTV showed prosecutors Trump was hiding more documents

Federal investigators knew Donald Trump was most likely concealing classified documents among the myriad boxes of presidential records and other paraphernalia stored at his Mar-a-Lago estate, because of surveillance footage obtained by subpoena, according to a less redacted version of the affidavit used to secure a search warrant for his property last year.

The version of the affidavit was made public late Wednesday on the order of US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who has been hearing arguments from a coalition of news organisations that have been seeking access to a fully unredacted version of the affidavit.

Andrew Feinberg filed this report.