Trump Campaign Reacts to Mass Endorsement of DeSantis By Florida Lawmakers, Accuses Him of Conspiracy to ‘Terrorize’ the Legislature

Former president Donald Trump is not taking the mass endorsement of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis by Sunshine State lawmakers well.

As of Wednesday, 99 of the 113 Republican members of the Florida legislature had announced that they would back DeSantis in his widely anticipated bid for the GOP presidential nomination, including Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and House Speaker Paul Renner.

In a statement, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung alleged that the overwhelming support for DeSantis in both his and Trump’s home state was not an expression of genuine preference, but the result of an intimidation campaign:

It’s no surprise that Ron DeSantis and his political cronies have continued to terrorize the Florida legislature with the threat of his veto pen if they don’t acquiesce to his demand to endorse his candidacy. There are some brave legislators who have stood up to DeSantis’ Swamp-like behavior and resisted his intimidation tactics in order to do what is right for Florida and the country. Those who he can’t control — including almost the entirety of the Florida federal congressional delegation — have endorsed President Trump because he’s the only candidate who can beat Joe Biden and take back the White House.

Cheung did not specify which Republican legislation DeSantis had threatened to veto as part of his conspiracy to terrorize the legislature. Trump was defeated by Biden by an Electoral College vote of 306-232 in the 2020 presidential election; he lost the popular vote by over 7 million ballots.

DeSantis’s team has enjoyed waves of endorsements from GOP officials in Iowa and New Hampshire as well as Florida in the last week. He is expected to declare his candidacy later this month, officially joining a contest that other contenders, including Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy — but most notably and persistently Trump — have already recognized him as a participant in.

DeSantis trails Trump but finishes ahead of every other declared or prospective candidate in surveys of the GOP primary electorate.