Supporters of former President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign filed a new ethics complaint accusing Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) of running a "shadow presidential campaign" in violation of Florida election laws.
The former president has consistently attacked DeSantis, who has yet to formally announce his own White House bid, in recent months after polling cast him as Trump's chief opponent in the Republican primary. Yet this new complaint marks the first time Trump world has sought legal means to alter DeSantis's current strategy, and calls on a state commission to require DeSantis be removed from office and formally enter the presidential race.
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MAGA Inc., a super PAC backing Trump, sent the complaint via certified mail Wednesday morning to Florida Commission on Ethics chair Glenton Gilzean, Jr., Trump officials tell the Washington Examiner.
NBC News first broke the MAGA Inc. filing and noted its uphill battle toward removing DeSantis from office, given that the Florida governor appointed five out of the current nine members of the state's ethics commission.
"I guess we’ll see," one MAGA Inc. official told the Washington Examiner, when asked if the group believes in the complaint's viability. "It's certainly fun."
In the 15-page document, MAGA Inc. chief Taylor Budowich and counsel seek to provide "ample evidence" showing how "DeSantis, in concert with certain associated political committees, political consultants, and a 501(c)(4) organization, has solicited and received millions of dollars' worth of illegal gifts in violation of Florida State ethics laws and the Florida Constitution."
"Absent immediate action by the Commission, Governor DeSantis will continue violating the law by accepting additional gifts that are clearly intended by self-interested organizations to influence his official judgment to submit an irrevocable resignation letter as required by Section 99.012(4)(a) of the Florida Statutes," Budowich writes."
Under the current law, Florida officials are barred from running for national office unless they resign from their state positions. People close to DeSantis have suggested that he would wait to announce a campaign for president until after the coming state legislature session, where the Republican majority is expected to amend the rule so that DeSantis could remain governor while campaigning for the presidency.
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MAGA Inc. argues that DeSantis is meeting and will continue to meet "influential figures" and vet campaign operatives in early primary states. The second-term governor traveled to Iowa in March and will headline an upcoming GOP fundraiser in New Hampshire, but his political team has denied reports suggesting they have started interviewing potential campaign staffers.
The complaint also accuses DeSantis of illegal fundraising, both through multiple, outside super PACs supporting his yet-to-materialize candidacy, and his official Florida political committee, Friends of Ron DeSantis, "despite him being term limited in the State of Florida." Finally, the complaint claims that during the governor's recent "personally lucrative book tour," DeSantis has been showered with illegal gifts and national attention.