Former President Trump dismissed rumors of a feud with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is seen as a potential contender to become Republican’s 2024 presidential nominee, telling reporters on Wednesday that he has “ a very good relationship” with the Florida Republican.
His comments come in the wake of a recent Axios report stating that Trump has privately told confidants the Florida Governor has a “dull personality” and would face an uphill climb in beating him in a primary. Recent surveys show DeSantis has recently seen an uptick in the polls in a hypothetical 2024 primary, tightening the margin between a potential showdown between him and the former president.
Trump said he believes his endorsement of DeSantis’ gubernatorial bid played a role in his ability to defeat Democrat Andrew Gillum in 2018.
“Well, I have a very good relationship with Governor DeSantis you know, when he wanted to run, he asked for my support and I supported him and he went, you know, up immediately very, very high. You know, he won the election the day I announced that I was going to give him my endorsement,” he told reporters on a call discussing his new picture book ”Our Journey Together,” which took place during President Biden’s first press conference in 10 months.
“And then I helped him beat their so-called star the Democrats’ star who turned out not to be much of a star. But no, I have a very good relationship with him, and we’ve had that for a long time. I was very supportive of him and I continue to be — no, I think he’s good, I think he’s very good.”
Trump also tamped down speculation that he is at odds for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), stating that ”Kevin and I work along very well together” when asked if the California Republican has his support to be the next Speaker of the House or would consider endorsing another member for the position.
“Kevin and I have worked very well together. We’ve gotten many people like elected that you see I’ve endorsed many people and I’m 158 and two — 158 wins and two losses. And the two losses the people that are, one, friends of mine now and they were more Trump as we say than the people I’d put up, but it’s 158 and two, which is an incredible record — nobody has that record and very much helped.”
The former president went on to state that he is supportive of the idea of potentially banning lawmakers from making individual stock sales, taking a swing a Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in the wake of her husband trading millions of dollars worth of tech stocks. Pelosi’s office has asserted that she has not personally traded any individual stocks but supports members’ ability to trade.
“It’s not appropriate, and it should be and she doesn’t want to discuss that. She’ll discuss other things that shouldn’t be discussed like some of the things that they’re proposing now like impeaching somebody for absolutely no reason for a perfect phone call,” he said.
“You look at that and you take a look at impeachment, both of them, but you get impeached because you make a phone call that was like perfecto and you know, so many different things but no and I happen to watch her, and I see her and I’ve dealt with her a lot and I think she’s clever in one way and stone-cold crazy., she shouldn’t be allowed to do that with the stocks, she should not be allowed to do that. It’s not, it’s not fair to the rest of this country.”