This yr, The New York Occasions reported that Mr. DeSantis and his allies noticed the legal justice invoice, which Mr. Trump signed on the urging of his son-in-law Jared Kushner — and immediately regretted — as an space of political weak point, and that Mr. DeSantis had signaled he would use it within the nomination battle. The invoice is unpopular with components of Mr. Trump’s hard-core base.
However for Mr. DeSantis, assailing Mr. Trump over the First Step Act is doubtlessly difficult. Mr. DeSantis himself voted for the primary model of the invoice when he was in Congress, and Trump allies have sought to spotlight that truth.
“So now Swampy Politician Ron DeSanctimonious is claiming he voted for it earlier than he voted towards it,” Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Mr. Trump, stated in an announcement. “He sounds identical to John Kerry. What a phony! He can’t run away from his disastrous, embarrassing, and low-energy marketing campaign announcement. Rookie errors and unforced errors — that’s who he’s.”
(Mr. DeSantis’s allies observe that the model of the invoice he voted for seemed considerably completely different, and that the ultimate model handed when he was not within the Home.)
When Mr. Shapiro requested Mr. DeSantis about Mr. Trump’s current criticism that crime had risen on his watch in Florida, the previous president’s adopted state, Mr. DeSantis bristled and stated Mr. Trump’s insurance policies had undermined regulation and order.