Politics

CHICAGO (Reuters) – President Joe Biden and his party selected Chicago to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention, tapping a large liberal city in the heart of the Midwest to hold its nominating party, the Democratic National Committee announced on Tuesday.

Chicago beat out New York, another progressive city, as well as Atlanta, a city in the presidential battleground state of Georgia that helped Biden win the White House and gain control of the Senate. Houston was eliminated earlier in the process.

“Chicago is a great choice to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention,” Biden said in a statement. “Democrats will gather to showcase our historic progress including building an economy from the middle out and bottom up, not from the top down.”

Chicago’s supporters made the case that it was diverse, liberal city that celebrated labor and civil rights. They also argued that it was located in the critical Midwestern part of the country that Democrats need to win if they want to retain the White House. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, a longtime and wealthy Democratic donor, also made clear that his state’s largest city had the financial resources and experience to run a smooth, large-scale event.

The convention, where delegates will formally select a final Democratic nominee to run in the November 2024 presidential election, will run from Aug. 19-22, the DNC said.

Biden called Pritzker to tell him about Chicago’s selection before leaving for Ireland, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

While he has not officially declared his candidacy, Biden is expected to be the party’s standard-bearer in the 2024 general election.

(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Jasper Ward; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Jonathan Oatis)

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By Sandra Stojanovic and Omar Younis

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) -Tennessee state Representative Justin Jones returned to the state House on Monday, pumping his fist and declaring “power to the people” as a Nashville-area council restored him to office following his expulsion over a gun protest.

Republican lawmakers ousted Jones and another young, Black legislator last week over their gun control protest on the House floor, capturing national attention with Democrats seeking to advance gun violence prevention and racial equality while Republicans wielded their supermajority power.

County legislatures are empowered to fill local vacancies to the Tennessee statehouse until a special election can be held to fill out the remainder of the two-year term.

The Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County voted 36-0 on Monday to make Jones, 27, the interim representative. He had been elected to Tennessee’s House of Representatives last year.

Republicans on Thursday voted to kick out Jones and fellow Democrat Justin Pearson, but spared a white representative who joined them in their rule-breaking demonstration in the well of the House floor on March 30.

Unlike the other two, Gloria Johnson, the white representative, did not use a megaphone. The vote to expel her came up one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed, prompting criticisms that race was a factor.

Pearson could get a similar vote for reinstatement on Wednesday when the Shelby County Board of Commissioners will consider reappointing him to his Memphis district.

The three were protesting the legislature’s stance on guns in the wake of the March 27 shooting at a Nashville school that killed three 9-year-old students and three staff members.

The Covenant School shooting was one of 146 mass shootings in the United States this year, the highest number to date of any year since 2016, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot or killed, excluding the shooter.

In yet another shooting on Monday, four people were killed by one of their coworkers at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky.

The Metro Council vote set off a celebration among some 600 protesters gathered outside, as people greeted Jones with cheers of “Welcome home!”

Jones then marched with Johnson back to the statehouse, carrying his nameplate, and was sworn in on the steps, surrounded by supporters.

He took his place while the House was in session, holding up a fist while supporters cheered from the gallery.

“I want to welcome the people back to the people’s house,” Jones said upon being reseated.

Addressing supporters before the vote, Jones accused the Republicans of operating “plantation politics” and abuse of power.

“Thank you, because it’s galvanized a nationwide movement,” Jones said. “The world is watching Tennessee.”

Council Member Delishia Porterfield, who lost to Jones in the 2022 primary for the statehouse seat, nominated him for reinstatement, saying their vote would “send a strong message to our state government and across the country.”

A spokesperson for House Speaker Cameron Sexton did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Before the vote, the spokesperson said the House would seat whomever the county legislatures appoint “as the constitution requires.”

Jones and Pearson, 28, have both said they would run again in special elections.

Although Republicans control the state legislature, Memphis and Nashville are heavily Democratic. Voters in Davidson and Shelby counties voted overwhelmingly for Democrat Joe Biden over Republican Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential race.

The expulsions have become a rallying cry for Democrats nationally over the issues of gun violence and racial inequality, and an opportunity to push back against Republican dominance at the state level.

While Democrats are competitive nationally, winning the popular vote in seven of the past eight presidential elections, Republicans hold large majorities in many of the state houses where issues such as abortion and gun control are often decided.

(Additional reporting by Daniel Trotta, Gabriella Borter and Rich McKay; Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Donna Bryson, Aurora Ellis, Jonathan Oatis, Lisa Shumaker, Leslie Adler and Kim Coghill)

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By Daniel Trotta

(Reuters) – A Nashville-area county council may return to the statehouse one of two Democratic Tennessee lawmakers who were expelled from the chamber last week over a gun control protest when it meets on Monday to fill the vacant seat.

Republicans who control the state House of Representatives on Thursday voted to kick out Justin Jones and James Pearson, two Black men who recently joined the legislature, over their rule-breaking protest on the House floor on March 30.

At least 29 of the 40 members of the Metropolitan Council for Nashville and Davidson County have said they back appointing Jones as an interim representative for his previous seat until a special election can be held, The Tennessean reported. Returning Jones would send a pointed message to the Republicans who accused him of violating decorum.

On Wednesday, a Memphis-area board of commissioners will consider reappointing Pearson to the seat he was removed from.

Jones and Pearson both said on Sunday they hoped to be reappointed and that they would run again in special elections.

Jones, Pearson and Gloria Johnson, a white representative, led the statehouse floor protest to demand stricter gun control laws after the March 27 school shooting in Nashville that killed three 9-year-old school children and three adults on the school staff.

Republicans also targeted Johnson but came up one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed to oust her.

The expulsions have become a rallying cry for Democrats nationally on the issues of gun violence prevention and racial equality, and an opportunity to push back against Republican dominance at the state level.

While Democrats are competitive nationally, winning the popular vote in seven of the past eight presidential elections, Republicans control many of the statehouses where they have large majorities and where issues such as abortion and gun control are often decided.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris flew to Nashville on Friday to support the three Tennessee lawmakers targeted for expulsion.

“The issue, which gets back to these three, is that we need leaders who have the courage to act at statehouses and in Washington, D.C., in the United States Congress,” Harris, who is Black and Asian American, told a gathering at Fisk University, a historically Black school that Jones attended. “Have the courage to act instead of the cowardice to not allow debate.”

The Nashville-area Metropolitan Council called a meeting for 4:30 p.m. CDT (2130 GMT) on Monday to announce the vacancy of Jones’ seat, discuss the rules for filling vacancies and possibly vote for an interim successor, according the agenda.

In Shelby County, which includes Pearson’s Memphis district, the chair of the county board of commissioners announced on Sunday that a special meeting had been called for Wednesday to consider reappointing Pearson to his seat.

The board of commissioners appointed Pearson, 28, in January to fill a legislative vacancy. He then won a special election in March. A Memphis native, he previously worked as a community organizer and activist who participated in protests against an oil pipeline through Memphis that was canceled, according to his campaign biography.

Jones, 27, was elected to the House of Representatives last year. He attended Fisk on the John R. Lewis Scholarship for Social Activism and has been arrested more than a dozen times for nonviolent protests, according to his campaign biography.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta and Gabriella Borter; Editing by Donna Bryson, Josie Kao and Christian Schmollinger)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday he plans to run for reelection in 2024 but was not prepared to announce it yet.

“I plan on running … but we’re not prepared to announce it yet,” Biden said in an interview with NBC’s “Today” show before the White House Easter Egg Roll.

Biden has said he intends to be the Democratic candidate in 2024 but has not made a formal announcement. Both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have said they will run together.

Top White House advisers are set to make final decisions on launching Biden’s re-election campaign, NBC News reported, citing several unidentified sources.

“The decision part is over, but he resents the pressure to have to announce what he’s already decided,” one source familiar with the matter told NBC.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Toby Chopra and Jonathan Oatis)

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By Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – “Biden nominee Julie Su wants to turn the lights off” reads a billboard in West Virginia; another in Montana warns that Su, U.S. President Joe Biden’s nominee for labor secretary, will turn the state into California; in Arizona, the message is, “Su’s gig could be destroying your gig.”

In addition to these, newspaper and digital advertisements will start appearing with more frequency in these states as her confirmation hearing date set for April 20 approaches. The White House and the administration have been touting Su’s history of fighting for underpaid workers, while industry groups against her policies have begun to aggressively oppose her.

Su, a civil rights lawyer, former California labor commissioner, head of the state’s sprawling labor agency and child of Chinese immigrants, needs at least 50 votes in a Senate where Democrats have a slim 51-49 majority.

Support of all Democrats and Independents is not a given, and several industry officials told Reuters they believe Su will have a tough time getting confirmed.

Industry groups are focusing their campaign on Montana, Arizona and West Virginia, as they worry Su would push nationwide policies that are similar to what she oversaw in California where she supported laws such as the one that classified some gig workers as employees, which some businesses claim impacted their ability to rely on freelancers.

White House spokesperson Emilie Simons said the administration is “currently engaged with a broad coalition of supporters on Julie’s nomination, including elected officials, labor leaders, key stakeholders, and business groups.”

Simons said the White House has received “outspoken support for her nomination since the announcement was made.”

Rachel Tripp, a spokesperson for a coalition of lobby groups representing businesses, freelancers and franchisees – called “Stand Against Su” – which was recently formed to oppose her nomination said they are “working to have senators from across the aisle and from every region understand what’s at stake here.”

Crucial senators in Montana, West Virginia and Arizona, who voted for Su to become deputy Labor Secretary in 2021, are on the fence about her confirmation for the top job. All three senators, two Democrats and one Democrat-turned-independent, are up for reelection in 2024.

Their reluctance to back a woman they previously confirmed signals Biden’s push to rein in corporate power and push higher wages for workers faces stiff opposition in Congress, even with Democratic control of the chamber.

Biden’s nominee to lead the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division failed last year after industry opposition and Democratic defections and his nominee for the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, who called for tougher bank regulation, withdrew in 2021.

When it comes to Su, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia is undecided, while Jon Tester of Montana is reviewing Su’s record, his spokesperson said. Senator Kirsten Sinema’s aide she never previews her votes.

Billboards, newspaper and digital advertisements are flooding these and other states. Industry groups have written to Biden and lawmakers asking for a review of her record.

“We’re not wanting to see California’s failures spread to other states, and with somebody at the helm who was the chief enforcer of such policies in California,” said Karen Anderson, founder of Freelancers Against AB5, a state law Su championed that extends employee classification status to some gig workers.

The law is tied up in litigation, and it is difficult to assess its economic impact on workers or companies at this time.

Kristin Sharp, chief executive of the Flex Association, a trade group representing rideshare and delivery companies such as Uber and Lyft opposing Su’s nomination, said her group’s goal is to make sure “lawmakers know we need a labor secretary that embraces the opportunities that technology has unleashed for workers.”

WHITE HOUSE, UNIONS PLAN DEFENSE

The Biden administration is preparing for a tough road to confirmation, the sources said. Large labor unions including the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) are crafting plans to defend Su, union officials said.

The AFL-CIO will target Montana, West Virginia, Arizona and Maine, communicating support for Su to its members to get them to contact their state senators. In Maine, unions plan to target senators Angus King and Susan Collins.

King voted to confirm Su in 2021. A spokesperson for Maine’s Republican Senator Susan Collins said she does not support Su’s nomination. She voted no on Su’s deputy secretary nomination in 2021, as did all Republicans.

“We knew from the get go that there was going to be a very aggressive campaign run by corporate special interests against her,” said Steve Smith, deputy Director of Public Affairs for Political and Organizing at the AFL-CIO.

Corporations are attacking Julie because “she’s such a strong advocate for workers and they know that,” Smith said.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington, Additional reporting by David Morgan and Rick Cowan in Washington; Editing by Heather Timmons and Josie Kao)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fox News said on Sunday it has reached a settlement with a Venezuelan businessman Majed Khalil, ending a defamation case in which Khalil said he was falsely accused on air of helping to rig the 2020 U.S. presidential election against Donald Trump.

Khalil had filed a defamation suit against the news outlet and former host Lou Dobbs, arguing in filings that they had fabricated claims he and other Venezuelans were involved in “orchestrating a non-existent scheme to rig or fix the election” against the former Republican president.

A short letter sent to U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton in Manhattan on Saturday said the parties had reached a “confidential agreement to resolve this matter” and expected to file a joint stipulation of dismissal next week.

“This matter has been resolved amicably by both sides. We have no further comment,” Fox News said in a statement on Sunday.

Lawyers for Fox News and Dobbs referred Reuters to the statement. Khalil’s lawyer did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Trump has continued to repeat debunked claims of widespread voting fraud as reason for his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election even after they have been roundly rejected by courts, state governments and members of his own former administration.

Jury selection is set to begin on Thursday ahead of a separate trial in Dominion Voting Systems Corp’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News and its parent company Fox Corp over their coverage of debunked election-rigging claims.

(Reporting by Michael Martina and Jack Queen; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

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By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Sunday she wants Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to be impeached and his advisers probed after a media report described luxury trips he has taken over decades, funded by a Republican donor.

“It is the House’s responsibility to pursue that investigation in the form of impeachment,” she told CNN in an interview. However, she acknowledged progress was unlikely since the House of Representatives has a Republican majority that would not want to take action against a conservative justice.

Ocasio-Cortez said the timeline of Thomas’s relationship with Republican donor and real estate magnate Harlan Crow revealed a conflict of interest since it started after Thomas began serving on the Supreme Court in 1991.

ProPublica reported on Thursday that Thomas accepted expensive trips from Crow over decades despite federal law requiring the disclosure of most gifts.

Thomas defended the trips, saying in a statement on Friday that he had been advised he was not required to report that type of “personal hospitality,” and has always sought to comply with disclosure guidelines.

He said he would now follow new rules brought in by the Judicial Conference responsible for financial disclosure requirements for the entire federal judiciary.

Crow told ProPublica he had “never sought to influence Justice Thomas on any legal or political issue.”

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

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By Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The White House is planning to re-up discussions with abortion pill manufacturers and U.S. pharmacy chains on ways to push back against efforts to ban mifepristone, two sources with knowledge of the matter said, as it appeals a Texas court ruling suspending the approval of the drug.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas, on Friday suspended approval of mifepristone, which will essentially make sales of the pill illegal in the U.S., while a legal challenge proceeds. A conflicting Washington state ruling on Friday blocks changes to pill sales in 17 states.

In January, the Food and Drug Administration made a regulatory change that made it possible for retail pharmacies to offer abortion pills in the country for the first time, but more than a dozen states have passed laws limiting such sales.

There are no retail pharmacies that are currently certified to dispense mifepristone and many are going through the certification process.

“We are discussing ways to offer them legal support,” one of the sources said of manufacturers and retail pharmacies.

Options being discussed include having the U.S. Department of Justice back any legal challenges brought against manufacturers and pharmacies, and providing legal advice on how they can continue dispensing the pills, the sources said. The DOJ is separately seeking an emergency stay of the Texas order.

The White House does not direct the DOJ’s litigation strategy, a senior administration official said. The official also said the Justice Department does not provide legal advice to private entities. There is a separate volunteer process that gets private attorneys and law firms to do legal work on different issues that the agency oversees.

It was not immediately clear which companies will be involved in these discussions. The White House declined comment.

Major U.S. manufacturers of abortion pills include GenBioPro Inc and Danco Laboratories. Pharmacy chains dispensing such pills include Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc , CVS Health Corp and Rite Aid Corp.

Walgreens said in March it would not dispense abortion pills in the 20 states where it risked breaking the law.

On Sunday, Walgreens declined comment. The other companies did not respond to a request for comment on any discussions with the White House.

The administration official said the White House has “absolutely previously connected with both pharmacies and manufacturers but we have not had any discussions on this since Friday when the decision came out.”

Any potential future conversations will not include decisions that impact “how the FDA will operate or is operating,” the official said.

The White House’s Gender Policy Council, Inter Governmental Affairs and the vice president’s office have been holding strategy calls for nearly two months on how to make medical abortion available after the Texas judge ruled, anticipating Friday’s outcome.

Discussions between the Biden administration and pill manufacturers and pharmacies over the issue have been ongoing for months, sources said, but Friday’s decision brings fresh urgency.

RELIEF FROM WASHINGTON STATE

A flurry of White House strategy calls on Friday and Saturday also focused on “immediate, short-term” relief offered by the conflicting order from Washington state , three sources said.

Minutes after Texas judge Kacsmaryk’s order, U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice in Spokane, Washington, an Obama appointee, ordered the FDA not to make any changes to mifepristone access in some Democrat-led states.

The administration believes that the Washington ruling gives it more time to respond legally to Texas’s final decision. It could “expedite review of Texas, encourage an immediate stay on it and puts a huge question mark over it,” one of the sources said.

Politically, the sources said, it makes it easier for the White House to make its case to the public that the FDA approval of the drug was accurate, mobilize activists and supporters to turn the issue into one that resonates with voters ahead of the 2024 presidential elections.

“There’s a lot of legal analysis that needs to get done…about how these two orders interact,” the senior administration official said.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris said on Friday the administration will fight the Texas ruling.

“We’re going to fight it. The Attorney General has announced @TheJusticeDept will file an appeal and seek an immediate stay of the decision,” Biden tweeted.

The legal battle is likely to work through multiple levels of appeals courts over a period of months or years before it is resolved.

The administration is seeking an emergency stay of Kacsmaryk’s order from the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The path forward discussed during the White House strategy calls touched on how the DOJ will wait for a decision from the 5th Circuit, which has a conservative reputation, the sources said.

If it does not stay the ruling, the department will seek an expedited review by the Supreme Court, they said.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Heather Timmons, Marguerita Choy and Diane Craft)

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By Gabriella Borter and Njuwa Maina

(Reuters) – Two Tennessee Democrats who were expelled from the Republican-dominated state House of Representatives last week over their participation in a gun control protest said on Sunday that they hoped to soon reclaim their seats.

Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, who joined hundreds of protesters at the state capitol in Nashville to demand stricter gun laws four days after a mass shooting at a local school, told NBC’s Meet the Press that they hoped to be reappointed by their districts to serve in their seats until they could run again in special elections.

Their expulsion has drawn national outcry from Democrats. Vice President Kamala Harris paid a visit to Nashville last Friday in support of Jones, who represents a Nashville district, Pearson, who represents a Memphis district, and their colleague Representative Gloria Johnson, who also joined the gun control protest but was spared expulsion last week by one member vote.

Under Tennessee Law, the Metropolitan Council of Davidson County in Nashville and the Shelby County Board of Commissioners in Memphis can appoint interim representatives for their districts’ now-vacant seats until a special election is held.

Metro Council Member Kevin Rhoten said on Twitter that he had been bombarded with emails since Thursday asking him to vote to appoint Justin Jones for the District 52 seat, and that he planned to do that. At least two members of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners have told local news they plan to reappoint Pearson to the District 86 seat.

“I would be honored to accept the appointment of the Shelby County Commission and to run in a special election,” Pearson told NBC on Sunday.

Jones said he too would accept a reappointment and run again in a special election.

“Their attack on democracy hurts all of us,” Jones said of the Republican-controlled House.

The Metropolitan Council in Nashville planned to meet on Monday to address the district vacancy. Nashville Vice Mayor Jim Shulman told Reuters that if the council rules are suspended, a vote could be held right after that meeting, and Jones could return to his role.

The Shelby County Board of Commissioners Chairman Mickell Lowery said he would announce plans on Monday for a special meeting to discuss appointing an interim representative, the Daily Memphian reported.

On March 30, hundreds of demonstrators flooded into the Tennessee statehouse to demand that lawmakers pass stricter gun laws, after assailant Audrey Hale gunned down three 9-year-old students and three staff members at the Covenant School in Nashville on March 27. Videos posted to Twitter showed the two Black lawmakers, Representatives Jones and Pearson, shouting through a bullhorn on the House floor, saying “No action, no peace!”

Republicans accused them and Johnson of engaging in “disorderly behavior” and said in resolutions calling for their expulsion that they “did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives through their individual and collective actions.” The Democrats said their participation in the protest was within their constitutional right to freedom of speech.

On Thursday, the body voted along party lines to expel Jones and Pearson.

Race came up several times during the debate ahead of the vote. Jones, who is Black, said Republican Representative Gino Bulso, who is white, portrayed him as an “uppity Negro.” Another Republican in the chamber, Sarbjeet Kumar, said Jones saw everything through the lens of race. As the vote was held, Black members and other Democrats joined Jones at the podium. Most Republican members are white.

   Pearson and Jones have said their expulsion is the latest instance of the mostly white, mostly Republican state government trying to suppress the voices of communities of color.

Both former lawmakers addressed their communities at Easter worship services on Sunday. Pearson, delivering the sermon at the Church on the River in Memphis, emphasized his and Jones’ innocence and vowed to continue speaking out against the Republican-led chamber.

“The Republican-led supermajority of the Tennessee General Assembly sought to have a political lynching of three of its members because we spoke out of turn against the status quo of the government after the tragic deaths of six people,” Pearson told the congregation.

He spoke exuberantly, rousing the crowd to their feet and eliciting cries of agreement from the congregation.

Jones attended Easter service at Watson Grove Church in Nashville and briefly spoke to the congregation, delivering a message of resilience.

“It’s not over,” Jones said. “We are in the midst of a resurrection…that will redeem the soul of the state and hopefully this nation.”

Only two other Tennessee state representatives have been expelled by their colleagues since the Civil War era: one in 1980 for soliciting a bribe in exchange for blocking legislation and another in 2016 after being accused of sexual misconduct by numerous women. Both expulsions were made with overwhelming, bipartisan votes.

(This story has been refiled to fix the Shulman’s title to Vice Mayor, not Deputy Mayor, in paragraph 9)

(Reporting by Gabriella Borter; editing by Diane Craft)

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(Reuters) – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ramped up his fight against Walt Disney Co, seeking to void an agreement that Disney passed to limit the power of a board appointed by DeSantis to oversee its Florida theme park property.

On Thursday in remarks made at Hillsdale College in Michigan, DeSantis said the legislature would void changes Disney made shortly before it lost control of the board.

“They are not superior to the people of Florida. And so come hell or high water, we’re going to make sure that policy of Florida carries the day,” the Florida governor said.

“We’re going to look at things like taxes on hotels, we’re going to look at things like tolls on the roads, we’re going to look at things like developing some of the property that the district owns,” added DeSantis, widely considered a 2024 presidential candidate.

Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on DeSantis’ remarks. However, earlier in the week, Chief Executive Bob Iger fired back at DeSantis, saying his apparent retaliation against Disney for taking a position on legislation was “anti-business.” Disney opposed Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act – referred to by opponents as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill – that restricts classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Florida lawmakers passed a bill in February giving DeSantis effective control over a board that oversees municipal services and development in a special district that encompasses Walt Disney World resort.

However, before the takeover by DeSantis’s appointees, Disney pushed through changes to the special tax district agreement that limit the board’s action for decades.

“What Disney has tried to do is they have tried to say that they should be able to operate outside the context of our constitutional system in Florida,” DeSantis said on Thursday.

(Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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