A new nonprofit group is helping DeSantis go national

A newly launched nonprofit group is supporting Ron DeSantis’ national political activity — a major sign of the growing political apparatus around the Florida governor as he moves toward a 2024 presidential bid.

The nonprofit organization, called “And to the Republic,” hosted three events DeSantis held Monday in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia, where he spoke before law enforcement officers. A person familiar with the group said it was "proud to help host the events today featuring Governor Ron DeSantis that put a spotlight on those state policies that are working and those that are clearly not working."

And to the Republic is registered as a 501(c)(4) issue advocacy organization — a type of nonprofit that doesn't have to disclose its donors but can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money advocating for policies it supports.

The person familiar with the nonprofit noted that it plans to host events with politicians other than DeSantis in the future, and it has invited other governors to join events similar to the ones DeSantis spoke at this week. But with the new group, DeSantis joins a slate of other Republican presidential contenders, including former Vice President Mike Pence and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who are benefitting from nonprofit issue advocacy groups. Some of the nonprofits have been active for years, supporting their policies, raising money, building large email lists and paying staff that will form the backbones of presidential campaigns launched later this year.

Corporate records in Michigan show that the new group, which has also launched a bare-bones website, formed on Jan. 30.

The outfit is overseen by Tori Sachs, a Michigan-based Republican strategist who has been a longtime adviser to GOP Rep. John James. Sachs has also worked for several conservative issue advocacy groups, including Michigan Freedom Fund and Michigan Rising Action.

Those briefed on And to the Republic’s plans say it is expected to hold additional events supporting DeSantis. The person familiar with the organization said it would be "announcing events for the future in the coming weeks and months." An Eventbrite page lists the group as the host of an upcoming event for the governor in North Venice, Fla.

DeSantis is taking steps to raise his national visibility ahead of a likely presidential bid. Next week, he is launching a new book, "The Courage to be Free: Florida's Blueprint for America's Revival." And later this week, DeSantis is hosting a three-day donor retreat at the Four Seasons Palm Beach, which is expected to draw around 150 supporters.

Should he enter the race for the White House, DeSantis would start as the leading GOP rival to former President Donald Trump — who has in turn derided the governor on social media as "disloyal," "Meatball Ron" and "Ron DeSanctimonious."

DeSantis, who is not expected to formally launch a bid until after Florida's legislative session ends later this spring, has brushed aside the insults, saying that he doesn't spend his time "trying to smear other Republicans."

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Liz Truss: UK should have ‘done more earlier’ to counter Vladimir Putin

Truss was British foreign secretary at time of Russian invasion and tells MPs West got ‘complacent.’

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Project Veritas leader removed

James O’Keefe, the leader and founder of the conservative group Project Veritas, has been removed from the organization, he said in a speech to staff posted online Monday.

“I have been stripped of my authority as CEO and removed from the board of directors,” O’Keefe said in a nearly 45-minute video, reposted by The New York Times.

The organization, known for its undercover sting operations, usually against liberals and members of the media, faced a federal probe relating to the alleged theft and trafficking of a diary and other personal items from President Joe Biden’s daughter Ashley Biden. The group’s tactics, including hidden-camera exposés, have been criticized outside of conservative circles.

Staffers at Project Veritas told board members earlier this month that O’Keefe was “outright cruel” to his employees, the Daily Beast reported.

“I’m a hard guy to work for sometimes,” O’Keefe said in the video released on Monday, acknowledging that he could be “very hurried” when interacting with staff.

Democratic consulting firms targeted by Project Veritas won $120,000 in damages from a federal court jury last year, in connection with the actions of one of the organization’s former operatives.

O’Keefe said in the video that he didn’t know why he had been ousted — “or, specifically, why this is happening suddenly, right now.”

In the video, he recounted a weekslong conflict with the organization’s board that culminated in his separation from the group. He left the door open to continue his work.

“Our mission continues on. I’m not done,” O’Keefe said. “The mission will perhaps take on a new name.”

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Key developments in the aftermath of the Turkey, Syria quake

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is paying his second visit to provinces devastated by the Feb. 6 earthquake as search and rescue efforts for buried survivors in the worst disaster in modern Turkish history are winding down.

Here’s a look at the key developments Monday in the quake’s aftermath:

New quake jolts hard-hit Hatay province

Another powerful earthquake has struck Turkey’s Hatay province which was devastated by a massive tremor two week ago.

Turkey’s disaster management agency, AFAD, said the magnitude 6.4-earthquake was centered around the town of Defne, in Hatay province.

NTV television said the quake caused some damaged buildings to collapse, but there were no immediate reports of any casualties.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency said the quake was felt in Syria, Jordan, Israel and Egypt.

The magnitude 7.8 which struck Feb. 6 has killed nearly 45,000 people in Turkey and Syria.

Turkish authorities have recorded more than 6,000 aftershocks since.

Death toll approaches 45,000

The Turkish disaster management agency, AFAD, has raised the number of confirmed fatalities from the earthquake in Turkey to 41,156. That increases the overall death toll in both Turkey and Syria to 44,844.

Search and rescue operations for survivors have been called off in most of the quake zone, but AFAD chief Yunus Sezer told reporters that search teams were pressing ahead with their efforts in more than a dozen collapsed buildings — most of them in the hardest-hit province of Hatay.

There were no signs of anyone being alive under the rubble since three members of one family — a mother, father and 12-year-old boy — were extracted from a collapsed building in Hatay on Saturday. The boy later died.

EU sees risk of disease outbreak

The European Union’s health agency has warned of the risk of disease outbreaks in the coming weeks.

The Centre for Disease Prevention and Controls said that “food and water-borne diseases, respiratory infections and vaccine-preventable infections are a risk in the upcoming period, with the potential to cause outbreaks, particularly as survivors are moving to temporary shelters.”

“A surge of cholera cases in the affected areas is a significant possibility in the coming weeks,” it said, noting that authorities in northwestern Syria have reported thousands of cases of the disease since last September and a planned vaccination campaign was delayed due to the quake.

The ECDC also warned of viral infections such as hepatitis A, parasites and bacterial infections that can all be spread by difficult hygiene conditions in emergency shelters and camps.

Syria calls for temporary housing units

Syria’s minister of public works and housing, Suhail Abdul Latif, says the Syrian government will secure 350 housing units for people displaced by the earthquake and made a call for “friendly countries” to send more.

“We will secure the affected people within our capabilities, but after a while, it is not possible to continue placing families in shelters in order to preserve their health,” he said.

Housing has been a pressing need in all the earthquake-hit areas, with many families sleeping in makeshift tents or cramming into crowded schools and sports stadiums.

Erdogan says reconstruction to start in March

Erdogan, who faces elections in May or June, says his country will start building tens of thousands of new homes as early as next month.

Erdogan said the new buildings will be no taller than three or four stories, built on firmer ground and to higher standards and in consultation with “geophysics, geotechnical, geology and seismology professors” and other experts.

“We want to avoid disasters ... by shifting our settlements away from the lowlands to the [more solid] mountains as much as possible,” Erdogan said in a televised address during a visit to hard-hit Hatay province.

The Turkish leader said destroyed cultural monuments would be rebuilt in accordance with their to “historic and cultural texture.”

Erdogan said around 1.6 million people are currently being housed in temporary shelters.

Blinken praises Americans' response

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has praised the support provided by Americans following the earthquake.

Blinken said in Ankara that the U.S. government had responded “within hours” to the disaster and had so far sent hundreds of personnel and relief supplies. But he said that ordinary Americans had also responded to “heartbreaking” images from the quake zone.

“We have nearly $80 million in donations from the private sector in the United States, [from] individuals. When I visited the Turkish Embassy in Washington, I almost couldn’t get in the front door because boxes were piled high throughout the driveway to the embassy,” Blinken said.

NATO sends container homes

NATO says a ship carrying 600 temporary container homes has left Italy and is expected to arrive in Turkey next week.

The military alliance has pledged to send more than 1,000 containers that will serve as temporary shelters for at least 4,000 people left homeless by the earthquake.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, who visited the quake-devastated region last week, called it the worst disaster in the alliance’s history.

Authorities say more than 110,000 buildings across 11 quake-hit Turkish provinces were either destroyed or so severely damaged that they need to be torn down.

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Biden lands in Kyiv ahead of anniversary of Russia’s invasion

President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday, arriving in Ukraine’s capital in a show of support for the war-torn nation and statement of defiance ahead of the one-year anniversary of the war Russia launched.

The shock appearance happened under immense secrecy. U.S. officials had expressed concerns that Biden couldn’t fly into Ukraine or take a ten-hour train ride without immense risk to the host nation or himself. Ensuring the president’s safety was a near-impossible endeavor, those officials said, though they acknowledged Biden had long wanted to go Kyiv.

A scheduled trip to Poland provided the opportunity to finally make the trip, and the caution was ultimately set aside. Biden marked the one-year anniversary of the war by walking the streets of Ukraine’s capital –– the same city Russia tried to seize 12 months ago –– and meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The message of his visit was clear: Ukraine is safe enough for an American president to visit despite the missile strikes, drone attacks and trench warfare initiated by Vladimir Putin.

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Britain's Rishi Sunak vows closer tracking of 'controlling and coercive' domestic abusers

Police forces also ordered to treat violence against women and girls as a "national threat" for the first time.

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Biden wants Poland's opinion — but he still has the power

NATO’s eastern flank suddenly has the ear of traditional Western powers, but it doesn’t yet have the weapons and money that drive decisions.

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