Trump and DeSantis Meet Privately in Florida

International News Regarding Former POTUS, Donald Trump – Trump and DeSantis Meet Privately in Florida

Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis met privately Sunday morning in Miami, according to people familiar with the situation, breaking a years-long ice between the presumptive Republican nominee and his onetime primary opponent.

Allies arranged the meeting in the hopes of a possible reconciliation between the two men, and Trump’s advisers hope DeSantis will use his donor network to help raise significant funds for the general election, according to people familiar with the situation. The people spoke anonymously to describe private deliberations, as did others interviewed for this story.

The two met for several hours before DeSantis agreed to assist Trump. According to someone with firsthand knowledge, the meeting went well.
Trump and his allies have fallen behind President Biden and his allies in the money chase. DeSantis has a large network of wealthy supporters who could help Trump close the gap, and he is popular among some Republican voters who are tired of Trump.

DeSantis has an incentive to develop a closer relationship as well. People close to DeSantis say it is untenable for him to maintain a strained relationship with Trump, especially as he considers his political future.

He is widely regarded as weakened by Republican donors and consultants following his primary defeat at the hands of Donald Trump.

Steve Witkoff, a Florida real estate investor and developer whom both men know, organized the meeting, which he also attended. Witkoff called the former president’s team and requested that he meet with DeSantis, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Trump and DeSantis had not spoken since the end of a tumultuous primary season, when DeSantis dropped out after a disappointing finish in Iowa, following months of criticism from Trump and his supporters. On the same day he dropped out of the race, DeSantis released a video endorsing Trump.

“It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” DeSantis said in a video posted to the social media site X on Sunday afternoon. “They watched his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance, and they see Democrats using lawfare to this day to attack him.”

However, DeSantis has not campaigned for or assisted Trump since, and has instead made backhanded criticisms of him. According to people close to DeSantis, Trump and his team treated him poorly during the primary.

In a call with supporters in February after dropping out, DeSantis claimed Trump had political baggage and criticized some in Trump’s orbit.

“I think he’s got people in his inner circle who were part of our orbit years ago that we fired, and I think some of that is they just have an ax to grind,” DeSantis was quoted as saying.

At the time, Trump’s top aide, Chris LaCivita, described DeSantis as a “sad little man.”

DeSantis is widely despised within Trump’s circle, but the former president has demonstrated a willingness to be forgiving and transactional when it suits him.

“Will I be using the name Ron DeSanctimonious?” he inquired after DeSantis endorsed him. “I said that name is officially retired.”

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