Politics

By Kanishka Singh and Costas Pitas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on Monday he would aim to deter China from invading Taiwan if he wins the 2024 presidential election, saying China would refrain from such an attack if the costs outweighed the benefits.

“So my policy is going to be to deter that from happening,” DeSantis, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, told Fox News on Monday when asked what he would do if China invaded Taiwan.

“China respects hard power. If they think the costs are going to exceed any potential benefits, they are not going to do it,” the Florida governor said in the interview.

DeSantis said such deterrence would involve both “hard power” in the region, an apparent reference to U.S. military power, as well as economic levers that the U.S. could pull.

U.S.-China relations have been tense for years over a range of national security and trade issues, including China’s claim of sovereignty over Taiwan. Among the other sore points are U.S. export bans on advanced technologies, China’s state-led industrial policies, human-rights issues, the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and trade tariffs.

The Biden administration has sought to take a step toward repairing ties between the world’s two biggest economies through recent visits to China by senior U.S. officials.

DeSantis criticized President Joe Biden’s handling of the China-Taiwan issue. “I do think under Biden we are on a course where in the next five or 10 years, they probably would be able to take it,” he said, referring to China and Taiwan. “If we change course I think we can prevent it.”

DeSantis, like other Republican candidates, has been hawkish on China and has called it “the No. 1 geopolitical threat” for the United States.

Former President Donald Trump currently leads the Republican field in public opinion polls, with DeSantis a distant second.

In a separate interview published on Monday in the Wall Street Journal, DeSantis said he would consider a national ban on Chinese-owned short video app TikTok.

“I am inclined to not want TikTok in the United States,” DeSantis told the newspaper.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington and Costas Pitas in Los Angeles; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

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By Brad Brooks

(Reuters) – Lawyers for suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday asked the state Senate to dismiss all but one of the articles of impeachment against him.

In two motions filed before the Texas Senate’s court of impeachment, Paxton’s attorneys argued that 19 of the 20 articles of impeachment are based on allegations of wrongdoing that took place before he began his third term in office in January.

Paxton’s attorneys argue that Senate rules do not allow for the removal of public officials over acts that took place before their current term in office.

All 31 members of the Texas Senate make up the court of impeachment. It was not immediately known when the senators would vote on Paxton’s motions. His impeachment trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 5.

Texas’ Republican-dominated House in May voted to impeach Paxton, a conservative firebrand backed by former President Donald Trump. The accusations he faces include improperly aiding a wealthy political donor, conducting a sham investigation against whistleblowers in his office whom he fired, and covering up his wrongdoing in a separate federal securities fraud case against him.

The lone article Paxton’s lawyers did not ask be dismissed involved accusations that he concealed acts of wrongdoing in connection to his settlement of a whistleblower lawsuit in February.

Paxton, 60, this year asked House lawmakers to approve the state payment of the $3.3 million settlement reached with the whistleblowers, all four of who are former staff members. That budget request is what triggered Paxton’s impeachment by the House.

Paxton’s legal team wrote in the motions that the articles of impeachment “allege nothing that Texas voters have not heard from the Attorney General’s political opponents for years” and yet he still easily won re-election. Removing him from office, they argue, would thwart voters’ will.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who will preside over the trial as president of the Senate, has imposed a gag order on Paxton’s attorneys and on the House managers who will prosecute the case before the Senate.

Paxton has been temporarily suspended from office pending his impeachment trial.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott this month appointed his longtime aide Angela Colmenero to serve as interim attorney general.

(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Lubbock, Texas. Editing by Gerry Doyle)

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By Gram Slattery

ROCHESTER, New Hampshire (Reuters) – U.S. Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis took an aggressive swipe at China, railed against what he described as corporate bailouts, and said he would rein in the Federal Reserve in an economic policy speech on Monday.

The speech contained relatively few new concrete policy proposals, but underlined how far the Republican Party has shifted dramatically in recent years in adopting an increasingly anti-corporate stance.

“We will usher in a new era of growth, prosperity and civic pride,” DeSantis said. “We are a nation with an economy, not the other way around. We are citizens of a republic. We are not cogs in a global economic empire.”

DeSantis was particularly harsh on China and the technology sector which he accused of enriching the East Asian nation to the detriment of Americans.

He told a small group of supporters at a cavernous warehouse in southern New Hampshire that he would eliminate China’s preferential trade status, a policy that he has previously said he supports. Ending it would have a profound impact on global supply chains.

The U.S. Senate voted in 2000 to grant the status to China as it prepared to join the World Trade Organization. That has been blamed by opponents for helping Chinese business at the expense of American jobs.

DeSantis said he would “incentivize the repatriation of U.S. capital” through tax abatements, shift mining in critical minerals from China to the United States, and dramatically limit economic links between the two nations.

“They said if you granted China special trading status and put them in the World Trade Organization, that China would become more democratic,” he said.

“What actually happened over these past 25 years, China has become more authoritarian, more powerful … and we’ve seen our relationship marred by the theft of our intellectual property, trade dumping, currency manipulation and espionage.”

In written bullet points released alongside the speech, DeSantis’ campaign said he would appoint a chair of the Federal Reserve “who will focus on maintaining a stable dollar instead of the political pressures of the day.”

DeSantis did not specify if he would try to end the term of current chair Jerome Powell prematurely.

He added that he would seek to eliminate any attempts by the Fed to impose a central digital currency.

The speech came as DeSantis is seeking to reset his campaign, which burned through some $7.9 million in cash in the first six weeks after he declared a bid on May 24.

Among his strategies is focusing on small-scale retail politics and drilling down on policy.

(Reporting by Gram Slattery in Rochester. Additonal reporting by James Oliphant in Washington. Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)

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By Gram Slattery

RYE, New Hampshire (Reuters) – Sunday afternoon for Ron DeSantis began at a restaurant. The Florida governor sidled into a booth to chat up a pair of newlyweds. Next he took questions at a barbecue outside a small red barn where onlookers munched on hot dogs.

His day of campaigning for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination ended at a lobster restaurant overlooking a marsh where onlookers snapped photos of him holding one of the excitable crustaceans in his hand.

Such was the first day of DeSantis’ “reboot” of his campaign in New Hampshire, the No. 2 state in the Republican nominating contest calendar after Iowa. A win in either could provide momentum against front-runner and former president Donald Trump.

Having burned through cash faster than expected since declaring his candidacy in May and having failed to put a dent in Trump’s roughly 30-point lead in Republican primary polls, DeSantis is now leaning into smaller-scale, more intimate events with voters, according to people close to the governor.

DeSantis made his name nationally by opposing many U.S. government policies to prevent the spread of COVID-19. He has since become a leading figure fighting what he argues are overly progressive polices favored by educators and corporations.

Now, he needs to give voters an opportunity to get to know him more intimately, although the new strategy has an inherent risk: DeSantis himself. Even his allies acknowledge he is not known for his natural affability.

The new strategy has the added benefit of being cheap, as the governor can hit multiple venues consecutively, with relatively little staffing and prep work, people close to the campaign say.

If the crowd at the “No B.S.” barbecue at the home of former Republican Senator Scott Brown on Sunday was any indication, DeSantis could be in for a tough slog.

Wedged into a wooden pergola, DeSantis went through such talking points as immigration and energy, before taking at least a dozen questions from attendees standing on rocks and sitting in folding chairs.

Of the nine attendees Reuters interviewed, one had previously settled on supporting DeSantis. The others unanimously said they came away impressed, but they were keeping their options open.

These are the types of voters that DeSantis will be relying on if he is to boost his small-dollar contributions, which in turn is key for the health of his campaign. About two third of the $20 million DeSantis raised in the second quarter came from individuals who “maxed out” in campaign parlance, meaning they donated the maximum permitted amount to DeSantis and can contribute no more.

Before DeSantis began his speech, Michael Lunder, a 67-year-old businessman, said he was “probably going to support (DeSantis) financially.”

After the speech, Lunder was more circumspect, saying he was impressed, but that he took issue with several of DeSantis’ policies, including his opposition to offshore wind energy and criticism of electric vehicles.

“I learned a few things that I didn’t agree with, but, in general, I think I might support him,” Lunder concluded.

CAMPAIGN REBOOT

In the last two weeks, the DeSantis campaign has undergone a shake-up both in style and personnel, according to several people close to the campaign.

Having spent roughly $7.9 million in the first six weeks after its May 24 launch, the campaign is tightening its belt, making sure travel is more efficient by scheduling back-to-back campaign stops and spending less on events, they said.

On Tuesday, the campaign disclosed it had let go 38 employees in recent weeks, more than a third of the staff. Among other changes, the campaign replaced the chief financial officer and boosted the remit of that position, one person said, hoping to keep a lid on costs.

For the time being, the campaign will be trying to scoop up supporters, one diner stop and lobster restaurant at a time, a process that even the plan’s proponents admit will be grueling.

Frank Cimler, an attorney in attendance at the “No B.S.” barbecue, gave DeSantis high marks, saying he would be formidable on a debate stage against Democratic President Joe Biden, who will be seeking a second four-year term.

He disagreed with DeSantis’ position that support for Ukraine in its war with Russia is not a vital U.S. national security interest. He also disagreed with the notion that the justice system has been “weaponized” against conservatives, an oft-repeated assertion of DeSantis and some of his opponents.

As he left, a volunteer asked Cimler if he would commit to supporting DeSantis.

Not yet, Cimler replied, but he would strongly consider it.

(Reporting by Gram Slattery; Editing by Ross Colvin and Howard Goller)

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By Joseph Ax

(Reuters) -A Georgia judge on Monday rejected former U.S. President Donald Trump’s bid to quash an investigation into whether he illegally interfered with the state’s 2020 election, just days before criminal charges are expected to be filed.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney denied Trump’s request to disqualify the lead prosecutor, block any potential indictments and throw out a special grand jury report that included recommendations on whom to charge.

The report has remained sealed under McBurney’s orders pending charges in the case, one of many legal troubles Trump faces. Separately in Miami, a Trump aide appeared in federal court on Monday to face charges he tried to help the former president hide classified documents by deleting security camera footage.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has indicated she intends to ask a grand jury to approve charges sometime in the next three weeks, telling judges that her staff will mostly work remotely as a safety precaution.

Security barricades were erected outside the county courthouse last week.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and accused Willis, an elected Democrat, of political motives. A spokesperson and his Georgia-based legal team did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesperson for Willis declined to comment. In an interview with an Atlanta-based NBC affiliate on Saturday, Willis said her office was prepared to seek charges.

“The work is accomplished,” she told WXIA. “We’ve been working for 2-1/2 years. We’re ready to go.”

Trump’s lawyers have filed a separate long-shot bid to disqualify Willis that will be heard by another judge next week. That motion was assigned to a judge from another county because it names McBurney in addition to Willis; as a result, all Fulton County judges were recused from hearing it.

Willis has been investigating Trump’s attempt to reverse the 2020 election outcome since January 2021, shortly after Trump was recorded on a phone call asking the state’s top election official to “find” enough votes to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.

The wide-ranging probe has also examined the conduct of Trump’s attorneys, including Rudy Giuliani, and a group of individuals who served as alternate electors in an unsuccessful effort to have the state’s electoral votes awarded to Trump rather than Biden.

The special grand jury was convened at Willis’s request to aid in her investigation. The jury, which had subpoena power but not the authority to issue charges, heard testimony from dozens of witnesses.

Trump has falsely claimed the election in Georgia and elsewhere was marred by widespread fraud, despite dozens of court rulings finding no evidence to support it.

In his nine-page decision, McBurney said Trump’s bid to block the probe was premature, given that no charges had yet been filed, and that he would have ample opportunity to challenge the propriety of the investigation if and when he faces an indictment.

McBurney also said Trump had not shown Willis had acted in a biased fashion, despite granting press interviews and tweeting about the case.

“The drumbeat from the district attorney has been neither partisan (in the political sense) nor personal, in marked and refreshing contrast to the stream of personal invective flowing from one of the movants,” he wrote.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax in New York; Additional reporting by Rami Ayyub in Washington; Editing by Howard Goller and Lisa Shumaker)

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By Jack Queen

MIAMI (Reuters) -An aide to former U.S. President Donald Trump appeared in Miami federal court on Monday to face charges he tried to help the former president hide secret documents taken upon leaving office.

Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, did not enter a plea as he has yet to obtain local counsel.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres scheduled his arraignment for Aug. 10 and ordered De Oliveira not to talk to other defendants about the case. He was released on a $100,000 bond.

De Oliveira’s lawyer, John Irving, told reporters after the hearing that it was “unfortunate” the Justice Department had charged his client and it was time for prosecutors to “put their money where their mouth is.”

De Oliveira is accused of trying to delete security camera footage and lying to investigators. He is charged with four counts, including obstruction of justice.

Prosecutors first charged Trump and his aide Walt Nauta in the case in June, alleging Trump haphazardly stored hundreds of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home and enlisted staff to hide them from investigators.

Trump, front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has pleaded not guilty to 37 criminal counts. He said during a radio interview on Friday that he had turned over all security camera tapes the government had asked for.

Nauta has also pleaded not guilty.

A superseding indictment unveiled on Thursday added charges against Trump and Nauta along with De Oliveira, in a sign the case is widening. It emerges as charges loom in a separate investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election.

Trump has yet to enter a plea on the latest charges.

Investigators raided Trump’s resort in August 2022 and found more than 300 secret documents in a trove of roughly 11,000 government papers.

According to Thursday’s indictment, De Oliveira, 56, in June 2022 told another worker at the resort where Trump lives that “the boss” wanted security videos of the property in Florida deleted after the Justice Department subpoenaed them, according to Thursday’s indictment.

De Oliveira and Nauta also moved boxes of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago to conceal them from the FBI and Trump’s lawyers, the indictment said.

Prosecutors said De Oliveira lied to the FBI during a voluntary interview by falsely claiming he had no involvement in moving boxes.

“Never saw nothing,” De Oliveira told the agents, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors allege Trump took the documents illegally when he left office in January 2021 and stored them in unsecured locations, including a ballroom, bathroom and shower. He also showed the papers – which included top-secret information about the U.S. nuclear program and military vulnerabilities – to people who were not authorized to see them, according to the initial indictment.

Trump’s lawyers met with U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith last week about the election interference probe. It is not uncommon for defense attorneys to meet with federal prosecutors before an indictment.

Trump in April became the first sitting or former U.S. president to face criminal charges when a grand jury called by Manhattan’s Democratic district attorney indicted him for allegedly falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to a porn star.

Trump has pleaded not guilty, saying the cases against him are part of a politically motivated “witch hunt.”

Separately, a grand jury in Georgia is investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the election in that state.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to announce whether she will charge anyone in the probe in August.

Media over the weekend reported Trump’s political action committee is expected to report on Monday that it has spent about $40 million in legal fees in the first half of 2023 to defend Trump and his advisers.

(Reporting by Jack Queen; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Andrea Ricci and Howard Goller)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A former associate of Hunter Biden appeared before a congressional panel on Monday for an interview that Republican lawmakers hope will shed light on unproven allegations against Democratic President Joe Biden and his family.

Devon Archer, who was subpoenaed by the House of Representatives Oversight Committee in June, appeared for an interview behind closed doors led by committee staff. Allies of former President Donald Trump are calling for an impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden.

House Republicans allege that Hunter Biden used his father’s status as vice president in an influence peddling scheme while sitting on the board of Ukraine energy company Burisma nearly a decade ago. They hope Archer can provide evidence that the president was directly involved in his son’s alleged dealings.

Burisma played a central role in Trump’s 2019 impeachment over his alleged efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Bidens and help him win re-election. A Republican-majority Senate later acquitted Trump.

Representative Jamie Raskin, the committee’s top Democrat, said last week that the Republican investigation of the Bidens has shown a pattern of concealing key evidence to advance “a false and distorted narrative” and has failed to develop any evidence of wrongdoing.

Claims of Biden wrongdoing in Ukraine have also been contradicted by former Trump insider Lev Parnas, who helped former New York City Mayor and one-time Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani try to dig up damaging information about the Bidens in Ukraine.

But Republicans remain undaunted.

“We know that Devon Archer has met and communicated many, many times with Joe Biden about Burisma and other things,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer told Fox News on Sunday.

Comer’s committee has also heard testimony from two Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers who say their investigation of Hunter Biden was stymied by the U.S. Justice Department, claims that House Republicans view as evidence of political influence to ensure a lenient treatment for the president’s son.

Biden’s son appeared in court last week amid expectations that he would plead guilty to two tax charges and avoid a gun charge. But the judge in the case said she could not accept the plea agreement with prosecutors.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy warned last week that -Republicans could begin an impeachment inquiry against President Biden if the federal agencies fail to cooperate with oversight committees probing his administration and family’s business dealings.

Some Republicans dismissed the warning as part of an effort by the speaker to rally his House majority behind appropriations bills, as the chamber prepares for a showdown over spending with the Democratic-led Senate.

(Reporting by David Morgan and Jonathan Ernst; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s political action committee is expected to report on Monday that it has spent about $40 million in legal fees in the first half of 2023 to defend Trump and his advisers, among others, the Washington Post reported.

The New York Times separately reported that the PAC has sought the return of $60 million it made to another group supporting Trump, a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Post said the PAC’s spending on legal costs has drawn scrutiny from prosecutors about potential conflicts of interest between Trump and witnesses. Trump’s Save America PAC is expected to disclose about $40.2 million in legal spending in a filing on Monday, the Post said, citing people who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Trump faces dozens of federal charges in Florida over the retention of sensitive government records at his home in the state. He also faces state charges in New York after a probe into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Citing two unnamed people familiar with the matter, the New York Times said the Save America PAC, which Trump is using to pay his legal bills, faced such staggering costs this year that it requested a refund on a $60 million contribution, signaling a potential money crisis for Trump.

A spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, Steven Cheung, would not comment on the refund request to the Times. But regarding the overall spending on lawyers, he said, according to the Times, “The weaponized Department of Justice has continued to go after innocent Americans because they worked for President Trump and they know they have no legitimate case.”

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Ted Hesson; Editing by Don Durfee and Lisa Shumaker)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s political action committee is expected to report on Monday that it has spent about $40 million in legal fees in the first half of 2023 to defend Trump and his advisers, among others, the Washington Post reported.

The New York Times separately reported that the PAC has sought the return of $60 million it made to another group supporting Trump, a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Post said the PAC’s spending on legal costs has drawn scrutiny from prosecutors about potential conflicts of interest between Trump and witnesses. Trump’s Save America PAC is expected to disclose about $40.2 million in legal spending in a filing on Monday, the Post said, citing people who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Trump faces dozens of federal charges in Florida over the retention of sensitive government records at his home in the state. He also faces state charges in New York after a probe into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Citing two unnamed people familiar with the matter, the New York Times said the Save America PAC, which Trump is using to pay his legal bills, faced such staggering costs this year that it requested a refund on a $60 million contribution, signaling a potential money crisis for Trump.

A spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, Steven Cheung, would not comment on the refund request to the Times. But regarding the overall spending on lawyers, he said, according to the Times, “The weaponized Department of Justice has continued to go after innocent Americans because they worked for President Trump and they know they have no legitimate case.”

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Ted Hesson; Editing by Don Durfee and Lisa Shumaker)

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By James Oliphant

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Senator Tim Scott, the highest-profile Black candidate in the 2024 Republican presidential race, has blasted his rival Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, over the state’s newly adopted Black history curriculum, saying “there’s no silver lining” in slavery.

Scott joined a growing chorus of critics of Florida’s new standards that require public school students to be taught that some slaves developed skills that “could be applied for their personal benefit.” DeSantis has defended the guidelines and accused opponents of siding with Democrats on the issue.

Asked about the curriculum at a campaign stop in Iowa on Thursday, Scott told reporters, “Any benefits that people suggest you had during slavery, you would have had as a free person,” according to video posted on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

“What slavery was really about was separating families, about mutilating humans and even raping their wives. It was just devastating,” Scott said.

Without naming DeSantis, Scott said he hoped that every candidate in the Republican field “would appreciate that.”

Scott’s remarks came after another prominent Black Republican, U.S. Representative Byron Donalds of Florida, also criticized the new standards. That triggered outraged pushback from DeSantis’ campaign online, which suggested Donalds was a supporter of Democrat Kamala Harris, the first Black vice president.

Harris last week delivered a fierce rebuke of DeSantis and the history curriculum while on a trip to Florida. Donalds, a rising star in the Republican party, endorsed former President Donald Trump over DeSantis in April.

On Friday, another Republican Black U.S. representative, John James, blasted DeSantis over the curriculum as well as his criticism of fellow Black Republicans.

“There are only five black Republicans in Congress and you’re attacking two of them,” James posted on X. “You’ve gone too far. Stop.”

The backlash comes when the Republican Party is looking to take advantage of President Joe Biden’s middling approval ratings and make new inroads with Black and other voters of color in next year’s general election – voters with whom the party has traditionally struggled.

DeSantis has argued that he is the most electable Republican in the field because he won over swing voters, including large numbers of Latinos, in his gubernatorial re-election victory last year.

The Florida Board of Education, whose members are appointed by the governor, adopted the new standards after the state legislature last year passed a law at DeSantis’ urging that required discussions about race be taught in an “objective” manner.

(Reporting by James Oliphant; additional reporting by Gram Slattery and Alexandra Ulmer; editing by Ross Colvin, Richard Chang and Leslie Adler)

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