How two Republicans in Florida are dominating the news – POLITICO

Hello and welcome to Thursday.

What were following Two Floridians are dominating the political headlines this week and its not clear where any of this ends.

Bring on the lawyers Donald Trump's legal battles were front and center on Wednesday as New York Attorney General Tish James filed a civil lawsuit that accused the former president, his company and his family members of an astounding amount of fraud through his real estate empire. Then last night the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals including two judges appointed by Trump sided with the Department of Justice in blocking part of a lower courts ruling on materials removed from Trumps Palm Beach home of Mar-A-Lago.

Response Trump appeared on Fox News last night where he maintained he had declassified the documents at the heart of the dispute with the FBI although the interview appears to have been done prior to the latest ruling.

Worth noting Then, of course, theres the highly publicized effort by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to transport migrants from Texas to other parts of the country. A story that moved last night by the Miami Herald includes reporting from Texas that suggests that a plane of migrants paid for by the state of Florida was indeed scheduled to go to Delaware this week but was then scrapped at the last minute.

Recording The Herald interviewed migrants in San Antonio who explained the effort to recruit them for a flight only to find out that it had been abruptly canceled. The news organization even had video that captured one of the encounters with one of those helping recruit migrants.

Whats going on? This raises continued questions about the transport program many of which the DeSantis administration is not responding to including what a second payment of $950,000 to the company that organized last weeks flights to Martha Vineyard actually paid for. NBC News' Marc Caputo reported last night that the governors office denied the money was used to pay for an empty plane to fly from Texas to New Jersey. (Thats where the same plane used to ferry migrants to Marthas Vineyard wound up on Tuesday.)

Focus The migrant flights have commanded a great a deal of attention for DeSantis as he has defended the operation that he says is being done to send a message about the surge of migrants entering the country many of whom he insists want to come to Florida. Last weeks effort triggered an investigation by a Texas sheriff who is an elected Democrat and sparked a lawsuit in Boston.

Weighing in The lawsuit, by the way, drew the ire of Sen. Marco Rubio who took to Twitter with a video where he stated America is apparently the only nation on earth where you can enter by violating our laws and then a week later sue the government whose laws you violated." It was a much stronger defense of DeSantis actions than Rubio had done last week, but it also drew a retort from his Democratic opponent Rep. Val Demings. This is a shameless and cynical stunt from Marco Rubio. We are sick and tired of the political games he plays with Floridas immigrant community, she said on Twitter.

WHERE'S RON? Nothing official announced for Gov. DeSantis

Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for Playbook? Get in touch: [emailprotected]

ON THE GROUND Operatives linked to DeSantis promised to fly migrants to Delaware but left them stranded, by Miami Heralds Sarah Blaskey and Nicholas Nehamas: She brought them food and a message: They were being sent to Delaware. The bus to the airport would be leaving at 5 a.m. the next day Tuesday, Sept. 20 she said, according to interviews with six migrants housed at the hotel. The migrants didnt know that they were being swept up in an operation that bore striking similarities to one organized the week before by operatives for Gov. Ron DeSantis that ended with 48 Venezuelan migrants dropped off on a Massachusetts island. Or that the trip to Delaware being dangled would never happen.

The difference between DeSantiss migrant flights and the Biden administrations, by Washington Post Aaron Blake

Crist joins Hispanic leaders criticizing DeSantis for migrant flights, by USA Today Network-Floridas John Kennedy

JUST SCRATCHING THE SURFACE Trump, company and family members sued by New York AG over alleged fraud scheme, by POLITICOs Josh Gerstein, Erin Durkin and Kyle Cheney: New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed suit against former President Donald Trump, three of his adult children and his business empire, accusing them of large-scale fraudulent financial practices and seeking to bar them from real estate transactions for the next five years. The attorney generals civil suit alleges more than a decade of deception, including billions of dollars in falsified net worth, as part of an effort by Trump to minimize his companies tax bills while winning favorable terms from banks and insurance companies.

THIS IS JUST THE CHERRY ON TOP He knows how to play the victim card perfectly: Why Trumps legal woes only make him stronger, by POLITICOS David Siders and Meredith McGraw: But to Republicans, after Trumps presidency and its aftermath, the bombshell was simply more of the same. Just as they rallied around Trump when the FBI searched his estate at Mar-a-Lago, they saw little reason to conclude the New York lawsuit would do anything politically but help Trump with his base. I dont see this working in terms of impacting the perceptions of the president, said Dave Carney, a national Republican strategist based in New Hampshire. He is under attack by the left, theyre using all the tools of government, theyre politicizing the legal system this is just the cherry on top.

REBUFFED Trump suffers setback as appeals court rejects Cannon ruling, by POLITICOs Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein: A three-judge appeals court panel has granted the Justice Departments request to block aspects of U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannons ruling that delayed a criminal investigation into highly sensitive documents seized from former President Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate. The panel ruled that Cannon, a Trump appointee, erred when she temporarily prevented federal prosecutors from using the roughly 100 documents marked as classified recovered from Trumps estate as part of a criminal inquiry.

Trump: I could declassify documents by thinking about it, by POLITICOs Olivia Olander

Tish James just sued Trump but theyve been at it for years, by POLITICOs Erin Durkin

Trumps allies in Congress slam AG James, by POLITICOs Olivia Beavers, Jordain Carney and Nancy Vu

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ CALLS OUT DEM House Democrat slams Tlaib for antisemitic remarks on Israel, by The Hills Mychael Schnell: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) on Wednesday slammed Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) for claiming that individuals cannot be considered progressive if they support Israel. In remarks at an American Muslims for Palestine event on Tuesday, Tlaib who is Palestinian American spoke out against the apartheid government of Israel before vowing to push back on the idea that individuals can be progressive and pro-Israel.

Response Wasserman Schultz denounced Tlaibs comments, labeling them antisemitic and arguing that progressivism and support for Israel are not mutually exclusive. The outrageous progressive litmus test on Israel by @RashidaTlaib is nothing short of antisemitic. Proud progressives do support Israels right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state. Suggesting otherwise is shameful and dangerous. Divisive rhetoric does not lead to peace, she wrote on Twitter.

Matt Gaetz says U.S. should bomb Mexicos Sinaloa drug cartel over Fentanyl Trafficking: Not kidding, by Mediaites Kipp Jones

NEXT CHAPTER Fried starting political committee focused on abortion rights candidates, 2024 ballot measure, by POLITICOs Matt Dixon: Fresh off a loss in Floridas Democratic gubernatorial primary, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried said on Wednesday that shes starting a new political committee focused on supporting abortion rights causes. The committee, called Wont Back Down, will begin raising money immediately with the goal of both helping female candidates who support abortion rights and getting a measure on the ballot in 2024 protecting the right to get an abortion in Florida.

Do what it takes We dont have a one election cycle problem, we have a future of Florida problem, Fried said in an interview announcing her new fundraising committee. So, we are going to do what I did in 2018, we are going to go to red areas and talk to Republican and independent women, and we are also going to do what it takes to win the future.

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried speaks with members of the media on Aug. 18, 2022, in Gainesville, Fla. | Gerardo Mora/Getty Images

DUNN LEADS LAWSON A new poll released by the Rep. Al Lawson-backing Southern Roots PAC and shared with Playbook finds that Rep. Neal Dunn is leading Lawson 49 percent to 43 percent in the race for Floridas 2nd Congressional District. But the poll shows a much tighter race after positive and negative messages were told to likely voters about the two candidates. Dunns lead shrinks to 49 percent to 47 percent, which is inside the margin of error.

Lawsons existing North Florida district was dismantled by the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature at the urging of DeSantis and his home in Tallahassee was placed inside Dunns reconfigured district. Lawson opted to challenge Dunn. David Binder Research surveyed 600 likely voters by telephone and online between Sept. 14 and Sept. 18. The margin of error is plus/minus 4 percent.

STAYING ON MESSAGE After abortion ruling, Demings tries to paint Republicans as anti-freedom, by McClatchy D.C.s Alex Roarty: In the three months since the Supreme Courts landmark Dobbs ruling revoked the right to an abortion, the Democrats nominee for Senate in Florida has argued that Republicans led by her opponent GOP Sen. Marco Rubio are attempting to limit or altogether eliminate the freedom once afforded to women, replacing personal decisions with ones mandated by state or federal government. In statements, campaign-trail speeches, and widely broadcast ads, the congresswoman has repeatedly leaned into the message, hoping it can win over not just core Democrats but also the valuable swing voters her campaign needs to attract in droves ahead of Novembers election.

Mayors race will have most diverse field of candidates in Jacksonville history, by Florida Times-Unions David Bauerlein and Hanna Holthaus

MUMS THE WORD Florida Republican legislative leaders mum on DeSantis migrant flights, by POLITICOs Matt Dixon: Republican leaders in the Florida Legislature have not come to Gov. Ron DeSantis side as he faced an onslaught of criticism from opponents over his decision to fly mostly Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Marthas Vineyard. They have, in fact, been silent. DeSantis decision to use a portion of $12 million lawmakers put in the state budget to fly mostly Venezuelan migrants seeking asylum from Texas to other parts of the country has sparked a national partisan clash, with Democrats and many immigration activists calling the move not just immoral, but illegal and many DeSantis-aligned conservatives cheering on the move as a way to highlight President Joe Bidens border policies.

NEXT STEP Florida appeals 11th Circuit social media ruling to SCOTUS, by POLITICOs Rebecca Kern: Floridas attorney general filed an appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn a May decision by a federal court that had struck down major parts of a Florida law banning social media companies from deplatforming political candidates for violating the First Amendment. The May decision by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals conflicts with a ruling last week by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld a similar Texas social media law. the Supreme Court agrees to take up the appeal, it would mark the first time the highest court will have weighed in on the underlying issues at play in the 11th Circuit case as to whether social media platforms handling of user content is protected by the First Amendment.

Nearly 400 veterans have applied to become teachers in Florida under DeSantis-backed program, by News4Jaxs Travis Gibson

GO AWAY Its very early but could a second Hurricane Hermine get into the Gulf of Mexico? by Tallahassee Democrats Karl Etters: A tropical system making its way west off the coast of South America has the potential to be named Hermine. And its forecasted path could bring it into the Gulf of Mexico, much like the storm that walloped Tallahassee and the Big Bend in 2016. Naming of storms is on a six-year cycle and Ryan Truchelut, chief meteorologist with WeatherTiger, said he hasn't been able to find any instances where consecutively named storms have similar impact zones. It would be unusual for a storm with the same name to threaten the same area, he said.

CRISIS, WHAT CRISIS? Citizens to grow to 15 percent of Florida marketplace, by POLITICOs Matt Dixon: Citizens Property Insurance, the states insurer of last resort, is once again over 1 million policies and is expected to comprise 15 percent of the states residential insurance market by the end of the year. That stark assessment came Wednesday from Citizens president and CEO Barry Gilway to the organizations board of directors. Concerns about Citizens have long been a focus of lawmakers, but little has been done to stop its rolls from swelling as other insurers go belly up or stop doing business in the state.

I WAS DISSATISFIED Shalala, UHealth exec she fired square off in trial over bitter academic soap opera, by Miami Heralds Jay Weaver: An academic soap opera is unfolding in Miami federal court this week with a plot revolving around turf wars and a blame game between University of Miami president Donna Shalala and a top medical school executive who was hired and then quickly fired a decade ago. The UM medical schools former chief operating officer, Jack Lord, who is seeking millions in damages, testified Tuesday at a wrongful termination trial that Shalala treated him in a crappy way when she fired him. Shalala, the prominent former university leader and ex-Miami congresswoman, countered in her testimony Wednesday that Lord was a destructive force akin to a bull in a china shop.

SLAM BOOK Mean Girls: Suspended School Board member blasts grand jury report as misleading and malicious, by South Florida Sun-Sentinels Scott Travis: A former Broward School Board member has blasted the statewide grand jury report that led to her suspension, describing it as a Mean Girls slam book and a political maneuver for Gov. Ron DeSantis. Still, Donna Korn expressed confidence this week that DeSantis will allow her to keep a countywide School Board seat should she win it again in a Nov. 8 runoff. The governors office has made no such promises.

FIUs only candidate for president: Interim president who had vowed not to stay on for long, by Miami Heralds Jimena Tavel

Artemis I passes tanking test ahead of potential launch next week, by Orlando Sentinels Richard Tribou

Hialeah cops fired 122 times in killing motorist. City to pay $500,000 to settle lawsuit, by Miami Heralds David Ovalle

Teacher was suspended for hitting kids with yardsticks. Now he may be fired for chokeholds, by Palm Beach Posts Katherine Kokal

Hes a Jan. 6 defendant, a racist livestreamer and new Tampa Bay resident, by Tampa Bay Times Tracey McManus: Anthime Gionet appears behind the microphone with his signature Pit Viper glasses and the same bleached hair that was on display when he livestreamed the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection from inside the U.S. Capitol. Fans know him as Baked Alaska, a nickname referring to his home state, and follow along in the chat box as he shouts out each one by their usernames. The host and his audience spend more than six hours a night together via livestream, time mostly filled with him playing video games on a shared screen. But he also leads hours-long discussions on politics and culture, spreading an ideology where white Christian men are under threat and women shouldnt be leaders.

BIRTHDAYS:State Sen. Jennifer Bradley William Stander of WHISPER LLC

Read the original post:

How two Republicans in Florida are dominating the news - POLITICO