Ron DeSantis files paperwork to run for president

Ron DeSantis filed paperwork on Wednesday to run for president after months of anticipation, putting the Florida governor in direct competition with former President Donald Trump for the heart of the Republican Party.

His entry into the race came ahead of an expected Twitter Spaces session with Elon Musk on Wednesday night, where he had planned to announce his campaign.

DeSantis, who has been visiting battleground and early voting states for more than a year, was widely praised by Republicans after his historic Florida reelection win last November. But his poll numbers slipped after Trump spent months attacking him.

He will wage his campaign on two fronts: persuading Republicans that Trump’s baggage will weigh him down in the general election, while lambasting the Democratic president, Joe Biden, as a weak executive beholden to the left.

DeSantis, in laying out the stakes for the contest, has described a country in crisis — gripped by what he portrayed as far-left hellscape where children have been “indoctrinated” into “critical race theory” and gender dysphoria, where Americans were robbed of basic freedoms during the pandemic and where Democratic leaders allowed crime to run rampant across major cities.

“We have a responsibility to preserve what the father of our country called the ‘sacred fire of liberty,’” DeSantis said during a recent appearance in Marathon County, Wisc., referencing the end of the Civil War, the Allied invasion of Normandy and the fall of the Berlin Wall. “This is the torch that we must carry. In Florida, it’s a torch we have been carrying.”

DeSantis frequently echoes England’s wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill, in promising to “never, ever surrender to the woke mob” — all but equating his political adversaries to Nazis.

For Republican primary voters, the no-nonsense 44-year-old governor promised the top-of-the-ticket electoral success that has eluded the Republican Party since Trump’s 2016 win.

DeSantis, who sailed to a second term in a battleground state last year even as Republicans nationwide underperformed, will instantly become the leading alternative to Trump in what promises to be a grueling battle for the Republican nomination. The Florida politician enters the primary with an enormous financial edge and, while he consistently runs second to Trump in public opinion polls, still is far ahead of the rest of the GOP field.

On paper, he’s an ideal GOP candidate: raised middle class in Dunedin, Fla., DeSantis earned his undergraduate degree from Yale — where he was captain of the baseball team — and later graduated from Harvard Law School. He served alongside the Navy Seals while deployed in Iraq, worked as a federal prosecutor and was an early member of the Tea Party.

But he’s faced criticism from donors and others for waiting too long to enter the race and for his sometimes gruff demeanor.

During private meetings in his official residence in Tallahassee lately, DeSantis has told donors and fundraisers that he can outperform Trump in key states like Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania, according to one person briefed on the dinners who was granted anonymity to share details of the private talks.

Still, DeSantis faces an enormous challenge in Trump — one that appears even more daunting now than several months ago, when DeSantis was running closer to Trump in polls.

Trump brings to the race a loyal following of Republican voters and party activists — an enviable base DeSantis has been courting with a conservative record buoyed this year by a malleable state legislature that advanced most of his agenda. Under his watch, Florida banned abortions after six weeks and permitted the carrying of concealed weapons without a permit.

In a recognition of the relentless attacks he is already withstanding from Trump, DeSantis is pitching himself to Americans as strong-willed and durable — a message Super PAC supporting him, “Never Back Down,” has been emphasizing in ads.

DeSantis’ challenge to Trump follows an arc that saw the one-time congressman catapult into the governor’s mansion with the direct help of the former president during the 2018 election, where he narrowly defeated Democratic nominee Andrew Gillum. In his first year as governor, he spent time focusing on increasing teacher pay and environmental programs in an effort to broaden his appeal to moderate voters. But that all changed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

DeSantis initially went along with calls for lockdowns and other measures, but he soon became the public face of resistance to federal health authorities over mask mandates and vaccine mandates. Florida’s economy rebounded quicker and faster than other states even as critics contended his positions were harmful. But his stances rocketed him forward as a new conservative star that only grew when he waded into battles over race and gender identity. Meanwhile, the Republican Party under his direction finally caught — and eclipsed Democrats in party registration — as a surge of people relocated from other states to Florida.

After Trump lost his reelection, DeSantis turned his attention to Biden and frequently faulted him over immigration as well as Covid-19. DeSantis also aimed at navigating a path with the former president and his supporters. He declined to say whether or not he thought the 2020 election was rigged as falsely alleged by Trump, but at the same time DeSantis pushed through a series of changes to the state’s election laws to rebuff calls from some Trump supporters for a full blown forensic audit.

In recent months DeSantis has continued to mount a balancing act where he dismisses criticisms from Trump without directly confronting him.

DeSantis indirectly defended the ex-president when a New York City prosecutor indicted him in an alleged hush-money scheme involving a porn star. He ignored many of Trump world’s jabs about “pudding fingers” and “Meatball Ron,” and in recent months has parrotted some of Trump’s MAGA rallying cries — calling for a wall along the Southern border, embracing an isolationist posture on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and engaging in a protracted fight with Disney.

from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/l6n1rAe
via IFTTT

Read More

Writer who called Polish president ‘a moron’ should not be punished, court rules

Under Polish law, insulting the president is punishable by up to three years in prison.

from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/Dcznj5p
via IFTTT

Read More

European Union claims it's on track to get Ukraine 1M ammo rounds

But doubts remain about whether it can keep up the pace.

from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/WpnPhN3
via IFTTT

Read More

Biden nominates Lt. Gen. Timothy Haugh to lead NSA, Cyber Command

President Joe Biden has nominated U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Timothy Haugh, the no. 2 at U.S. Cyber Command, to serve as the new head of both Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, according to an Air Force notice.

The notice, obtained by POLITICO, was sent out on Monday and is titled “General Officer Nomination.” It announces that the president has nominated Haugh to the Senate for promotion to four-star general and assignment in the dual-hatted role.

The decision was confirmed by an Air Force official, who was granted anonymity to discuss the move ahead of a public announcement.

If confirmed, Haugh will replace Gen. Paul Nakasone, who has led both NSA and Cyber Command since 2018. Nakasone is planning to step down sometime this year.

While the Senate unanimously confirmed Haugh to his current post last year, he may face a bumpy road to confirmation now, given that Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) has placed a hold on all Defense Department nominations in protest of the agency’s abortion travel policy.

A spokesperson for Tuberville confirmed to POLITICO that Tuberville's hold will include Haugh's nomination, noting that it applies to "all civilian and general/flag officer nominations."

Haugh, who had been generally expected to get the nod, has been involved in the Pentagon’s cyber efforts for years. He previously led the Sixteenth Air Force, or Air Force Cyber, and also served in stints as the director of Cyber Command’s Cyber National Mission Force and as the agency’s director of intelligence.

Spokespeople for Cyber Command, the NSA and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Senate Intelligence Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) said that the committee, which along with the Senate Armed Services Committee has jurisdiction over the confirming Haugh, has not yet received the nomination.

Compared with Nakasone, Haugh has kept a low profile on Capitol Hill. Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and leading cyber policy advocate, said earlier this month that he “doesn’t know Haugh well,” and that he would have preferred for Nakasone to stay in the position.

Nakasone’s planned resignation comes at a tough time for the Pentagon, as he’s poised to leave at the same time as the majority of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, leaving a major gap in defense leadership.

Nakasone’s four-year term leading NSA and Cyber Command ran out last year, and he was asked to stay on for a further year. Nakasone commands broad bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, and has led on issues including securing U.S. election against foreign interference, along with supporting Ukrainian cyber operations in its war with Russia.

from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/RieTwps
via IFTTT

Read More

Harlan Crow refuses to cooperate with Dem senators’ Supreme Court probe

Real-estate billionaire and GOP megadonor Harlan Crow, who has come under fire for his mysterious relationship with Justice Clarence Thomas, is refusing to cooperate with a Senate Judiciary Committee probe.

In a Monday night letter to Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin, obtained by POLITICO, Crow’s lawyer said the panel did not have “the authority to investigate Mr. Crow’s personal friendship with” Thomas. Crow declined to answer questions from Durbin and other Democrats about the developer’s relationship with and pattern of expensive gifts to the Supreme Court justice.

The committee “has not identified a valid legislative purpose for its investigation and is not authorized to conduct an ethics investigation of a Supreme Court Justice,” reads the letter from Michael Bopp.

Durbin tore into that response Tuesday.

“Harlan Crow believes the secrecy of his lavish gifts to Justice Thomas is more important than the reputation of the highest court of law in this land. He is wrong,” the Illinois Democrat said.

The relationship between Thomas and Crow has come under intense scrutiny since a series of reports from ProPublica that detailed lavish gifts and luxury travel that Thomas received from Crow, plus favorable real estate transactions and gifts that Thomas did not include in his annual financial disclosures.

Durbin pledged that Judiciary would respond “more fully in short order” and will continue pressing for “a substantive response to our information requests in order to craft and advance the targeted ethics legislation needed to help restore trust in the Supreme Court.”

Crow’s lawyer rejected Senate Democrats’ arguments that their inquiries into Crow are centered around exploring a fresh code of ethics for the court. Bopp accused them of “targeting Justice Thomas for special and unwarranted opprobrium.”

Durbin blasted Bopp’s argument in the letter that “Congress does not have the constitutional power to impose ethics rules and standards on the Supreme Court,” and that “doing so would exceed Congress’ Article I authority and violate basic separation of powers principles.”

“Mr. Crow’s letter relies on a separation of powers defense when Mr. Crow does not work, and has never worked, for the Supreme Court,” Durbin said Tuesday.

from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/lYVP0qX
via IFTTT

Read More

Public review of Canada’s China files ‘simply cannot be done,’ investigator says

OTTAWA, Ont. — A third-party investigator says the Canadian government does not need a public inquiry into foreign interference in the country’s domestic politics and elections, despite attempts by China to meddle.

The recommendation comes even as the investigation found “serious shortcomings” in the way intelligence is communicated from security agencies to departments and handed up the chain to the political level.

David Johnston, who was tapped by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in March to review allegations of foreign influence in Canadian politics, released his highly anticipated first report on Tuesday.

The opinion is certain to draw fire from the Opposition Conservatives, who have demanded a public inquiry.

Foreign interference blew up into a hot-button political issue in recent months in the wake of bombshell intelligence leaks to a Canadian newspaper that stated the country is a high-priority target for Beijing.

The reporting alleged a Chinese diplomat was collecting information on a Canadian opposition lawmaker and his family in Hong Kong to pressure him.

Yet the information Canada collected on this was apparently going into a black hole, and neither reached top political leadership nor the politician in question — Canadian Conservative MP Michael Chong.

Just a week ago, Chong told parliamentarians he had only learned about the matter through reading the newspaper — a symptom of “systemic” dysfunction in how Canadian intelligence interfaces with parliamentarians.

In the wake of the rare intelligence leak, Canada expelled the diplomat in question earlier this month and Chinaswiftly responded in kind. China has denied the allegations and insisted it never interferes with the domestic affairs of any country.

Trudeau has said he did not know about Chong’s story until it became public, which has only raised more questions about how information about threats to national security makes its way to lawmakers — including the prime minister himself.

It said Chong’s case was the “most prominent, but not the only, example of poor information flow and processing between agencies, the public service and ministers.”

Johnston’s report buys time for Trudeau and casts doubt on a lot of the media reporting that has fueled a controversy that has raged for months.

“Foreign governments are undoubtedly attempting to influence candidates and voters in Canada,” he said at the unveiling of his report. But he added “several leaked materials that raised legitimate questions turn out to have been misconstrued in some media reports,” likely from lack of context.

He said “further public process” is necessary, and that he will hold public hearings on “serious governance and policy issues” he uncovered in his review of classified materials. But foreign adversaries would leverage the classified information if it were made public and could put people in danger, so only some parliamentarians should be given security clearance to review his work.

“A public review of classified intelligence simply cannot be done.”

Specifically at issue is the extent to which China has meddled in Canadian politics and was involved in the past two federal elections, following politically explosive reports that the country sought to influence the results in favor of the governing Liberals, perceived to be friendlier toward Beijing, over more hawkish Conservative candidates.

Johnston’s report delved into the weeds and poured water on that suggestion — in fact, on many, including that the Liberals failed to act out of partisan considerations.

There was “no indication that the PRC had a plan to orchestrate a Liberal minority government in 2021 or were ‘determined’ that the Conservatives not win,” it said. Johnston concluded that an allegation that a Liberal MP had advised the Chinese consulate on extending the detentions of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor in China is false. But why it is false remains classified.

Trudeau has resisted political pressure to call a public inquiry into the sprawling controversy, but had said previously he would follow whatever Johnston recommends.

Johnston is best known for serving as the country’s governor general, a nonpartisan position that represents the British monarchy in Canada. That role, along with his contemplative public persona, would have made him appear at the outset like the perfect person to diffuse the political tension amid calls for a public inquiry. Instead, controversy has followed at every step.

The Conservatives pounced on Johnston’s appointment for being personally close to Trudeau. And for being a member of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, a charity that became absorbed into the political debate over foreign interference following reports it took a large donation from a Chinese billionaire.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told reporters Thursday he did not even bother to meet with Johnston because he thinks he was given a “fake job” and cannot be impartial on the matter.

“He is Justin Trudeau’s ski buddy, his cottage neighbor, his family friend and a member of the Trudeau Foundation, which got $140,000 from Beijing,” he said. “He needs to simply hand it [his role] over and allow an independent public inquiry into Beijing’s interference.”

Johnston dismissed such criticisms as being tenuous and “very troubling,” and pointed to his past roles overseeing dozens of independent task forces where his impartiality was never called into question. He said he sought the opinion of a former Supreme Court justice, who cleared him of any conflict of interest.

Former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole met with Johnston but called it “nothing more than a box-checking exercise” and said the Trudeau Liberals are attempting to to “grade their own homework.”

This is Johnston’s first report of what could be several updates, as he continues his review, until his conclusion due this fall.

from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/kdKJYb6
via IFTTT

Read More

Marianne Williamson loses top two campaign officials in a matter of days

The top two campaign officials for longshot Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson resigned over the weekend.

Jason Call, the campaign's deputy manager, told POLITICO on Monday that he left Williamson’s team on Friday. That came after campaign manager Peter Daou announced last Saturday on Twitter that he was leaving the campaign “after much consideration,” about one month into the job.

A Williamson campaign staffer confirmed to POLITICO that Daou and Call left the campaign, but said it was a mutually agreed-upon decision after Williamson's campaign leaned into a more progressive direction.

“The campaign is just moving in a different direction,” a Williamson campaign staffer granted anonymity to discuss campaign dynamics told POLITICO. The staffer elaborated that Daou “comes from a background of what you would call traditional Democratic politics, and Marianne is looking for something a bit more innovative.”

In an interview with POLITICO, Daou said it's "categorically false" that the campaign was too progressive for him. He declined to talk about any other internal campaign discussions or decision making.

Daou has worked for several presidential campaigns, starting as communications advisor to John Kerry in 2004, then was the head of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 online operation and was a dedicated Clinton advocate in 2016. Daou then moved into the Bernie Sanders camp in the 2020 primary before “QUITTING” the Democratic Party that year, which he also announced on Twitter.

When Daou joined the Williamson campaign, he said that her campaign was the “BEST opportunity” to fight against a corrupt political system, a theme the Williamson often discusses on the campaign trail.

Since resigning, he’s publishedtweets that suggest he's interested in supporting a third-party presidential campaign. Despite these tweets, the Williamson campaign staffer said Daou will continue working with her as an advisor.

Call, who is also running as a Green Party candidate for Washington’s 2nd congressional district, declined an interview request for this story. Call announced on Twitter that the Green Party raised money for the filing fee the day after his resignation, but he is not yet officially declared with the FEC.

In a joint statement from Daou and the Williamson campaign, Daou cites "urgent family obligations” for his departure from the campaign. The statement makes no reference to his third-party support. It also refers to him as both the deputy campaign manager and then later the interim campaign manager. Daou referred to himself as campaign manager in his tweets.

Roza Calderon will take over as Williamson’s campaign manager, according to the staffer, who added that Daou had a hand in naming his replacement. Calderon is a former Sanders 2020 presidential campaign surrogate. She was most recently the executive director of Future Generations, a grassroots organizing group with an affiliated PAC that supports progressive candidates.

from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/VN08eog
via IFTTT

Read More