DeSantis coy on Trump extradition; can’t speak to ‘paying hush money to a porn star’

Gov. Ron DeSantis refused Monday to say whether the state would cooperate with any extradition of former President Donald Trump to face possible fraud charges arising from a payment of $130,000 to adult-film actor Stormy Daniels.

But he harshly criticized Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., for contemplating such charges, while mentioning the lurid nature of the case against his chief rival — and former political patron — in a putative GOP presidential nomination contest between the two of them.

“Look, I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair — I can’t speak to that,” the governor said during a news conference in Panama City.

“But what I can speak to is that, if you have a prosecutor who is ignoring crimes happening every single day in his jurisdiction, and he chooses to go back many, many years ago to try to use something about porn-star hush money payments, that’s an example of pursuing a political agenda and weaponizing the office. I think that that’s fundamentally wrong,” DeSantis continued.

He said he was not aware of any discussions between New York and Florida law enforcement officials regarding a possible extradition.

“We are not involved in this, won’t be involved in this. I have no interest in getting involved in some sort of manufactured circus by some Soros D.A., OK? He’s trying to do a political spectacle; he’s trying to virtue signal for his base. I’ve got real issues I’ve got to deal with here in the state of Florida.”

George Soros

George Soros is a Hungarian-born billionaire who has contributed to progressive prosecutors including Bragg and Andrew Warren, the twice-elected state’s attorney in Hillsborough County whom DeSantis suspended last year for alleged neglect of duty and other ground. A federal judge ruled that the governor’s rationale was pretextual; the matter is now the subject of appeals to the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Trump has declared that he expects to be indicted in New York on Tuesday.

One possible charge could be bookkeeping fraud, according to a report by The New York Times. Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen has said that he paid the money during the 2016 campaign to cover up a Trump affair with Daniels and was reimbursed by Trump’s company. Prosecutors would have to show that Trump directed underlings to obscure the purpose of the payout.

Trump also could face charges in Georgia related to allegedly trying to falsify the results of the presidential election there, and federal charges arising from the Jan. 6 insurrection and his handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach home.

DeSantis argues that progressive prosecutors go too easy on criminals.

“These Soros district attorneys are a menace to society, and I’m just glad that I’m the only governor in the country that’s actually removed one from office, DeSantis said.

Digital currency

The main topic of the governor’s news conference was central bank digital currency, or CBDC, similar to cryptocurrencies but operated under the auspices of a central bank, such as the U.S. Federal Reserve. President Joe Biden last year ordered a study into whether such a system would make sense for the United States.

The systems could be good for people without access to banking services, but DeSantis sees them as subject to abuse by government officials or central bankers to discourage spending on items they deem socially problematic, including possibly fossil fuels or firearms. He wants the Legislature to block the effort in Florida.

“Ultimately, cash is king. If you can hold it in you hand, you have power over that. The minute it’s all digitized, somebody else is gonna have control over that. And its just a question of, are they gonna let you live your life or decide to do things to circumvent what you want to do.”