Former President Donald Trump’s allies have filed a 15-page complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics accusing Gov. Ron DeSantis of violating campaign finance and ethics rules with his so-called shadow campaign for the White House.
The complaint filed on Wednesday by MAGA Inc., a Trump-supporting super political action committee, requests for the commission to investigate DeSantis for potentially “leveraging his elected office and breaching his associated duties” in order to increase his national profile and personally benefit financially. In the complaint, they write that DeSantis is a “de facto candidate for President of the United States” following his recent meetings with donors and hiring of potential staff for the upcoming election. DeSantis has also visited some early-voting states and has been meeting up with influential Republicans.
In the complaint not only do they request that DeSantis be investigated but they also call on the commission to have him removed from office, fined, or censured.
Taryn Fenske, DeSantis’s communications Director dismissed the complaint stating that it was just one more on a “list of frivolous and politically motivated attacks.” She added that ethics complaints should not be used “for partisan purposes.”
DeSantis, who has not yet announced what his intentions for 2024 are, is widely considered to be Trump’s biggest rival for the 2024 GOP nomination. While DeSantis is not expected to announce his candidacy until after the end of Florida’s legislative session in May, he has still been traveling across early-voting states while promoting his new book. Trump has repeatedly aimed shots at DeSantis which included attacks on his previous policies and giving him nicknames.
