DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and the governor of Florida. Ron DeSantis are signaling to donors that they are putting their rivalry behind them after a controversial and often personal primary battle.
DeSantis gathered his allies this week in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to urge them to raise money in support of Trump. Over a seafood and steak dinner, he argued that they should work together to prevent Democrats President Joe Biden of winning a second term. The governor and about 30 people then spent Thursday morning in a hotel conference room to raise money for an outside group supporting the former president’s 2024 campaign for the White House.
Trump called the meeting to thank members of the group for their work, according to four people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to publicly discuss the private session and spoke on condition of anonymity.
In what three attendees described as a warm and gracious call to the group heard over the loudspeaker, Trump praised DeSantis and the effort, saying, “Ron, I’m thrilled you’re back.”
A reconciliation helps them both. Trump is trying to raise money against Biden, while DeSantis hopes to maintain a potential future presidency in the White House for which Trump’s supporters could play a key role.
DeSantis and his top donors are raising money for the super political action committee Right for America, backed by major Republican donors like Ike Perlmutter, who has agreed to match at least some of the DeSantis team’s fundraising rather than send money directly to the Trump’s campaign. .
The settlement, which was reached after talks between the Trump and DeSantis camps, is aimed at easing concerns among DeSantis supporters that their money will pay the former president’s legal bills, according to people familiar with the matter with the case and who requested anonymity to discuss the private conversations. Trump notably blessed the structure when he attended the group’s meeting on Thursday.
“This is where I want you to focus,” Trump said in a phone call lasting about 15 minutes, according to a senior political adviser to DeSantis, who was not authorized to discuss the private meeting publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
DeSantis’ decision to send money to the PAC instead of giving directly to Trump’s campaign has raised eyebrows among some Trump campaign officials, according to a person familiar with the former president’s campaign thinking who wrote on spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the arrangement.
Right for America competes for donors with MAGA Inc., the main super PAC backing Trump. Such groups are prohibited from coordinating directly with a presidential campaign, something DeSantis prevented during his presidential campaign due to conflicts between his campaign and his support of Never Back Down, the largest super PAC supporting DeSantis’ candidacy.
Other supporters of both men support the arrangement. Right for America is run by Sergio Gor, a longtime Trump ally who has a close relationship with the former president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.. The two run Winning Team Publishing, which published two of the former president’s books .
Some of DeSantis’ donors have been reluctant to give to Trump because they feared their money would help pay Trump’s lawyers in his criminal cases instead of being used directly to focus on defeating Biden.
Some major Florida donors who contributed to DeSantis remain reluctant to contribute to the effort to support Trump, said Al Hoffman, a Republican donor from Palm Beach County and former chairman of the Republican National Committee’s finance department.
“I know there are Republican conservative donors with a lot of money who are very reluctant to support Trump,” said Hoffman, who also chaired former Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s 2002 re-election campaign.
DeSantis endorsed Trump when he dropped out of the race and pledged to work for his campaign during a personal meeting with the former president in April. The 45-year-old governor, who has won two terms and pushed a longstanding swing state increasingly to the right, could potentially run for the White House again and would need the support of Trump voters in a future Republican primary.
DeSantis called his allies to Fort Lauderdale this week to raise money for Trump and told them Wednesday night that they must work to prevent a second Biden term.
The meeting kicked off what is expected to be a coast-to-coast fundraising effort by DeSantis’ allies, with upcoming events likely in Texas, California, Washington state and perhaps New York.
Trump and DeSantis have also discussed a role for the governor at the Republican National Convention. Aides to DeSantis said this was Trump’s suggestion and was not dependent on any fundraising effort by DeSantis.
Donors discussing Thursday’s event were struck by the collegiality between Trump and DeSantis during the call for the meeting. One person who spoke on condition of anonymity about the closed-door meeting called the conversation “very friendly” and noted that Trump and DeSantis talked about golf, a favorite pastime of Trump.
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Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.
