DeSantis attacks DoJ’s Trump letter during rare CNN interview – as it happened

Ron DeSantis’s brief interview on CNN has finished, and we’re closing the US politics blog now. But look out shortly for my colleague Martin Pengelly’s analysis of what DeSantis had to say.

We’ll leave you with news, as promised, of the decision by authorities in Michigan to charge 16 “fake electors” over the scheme to keep Donald Trump in power after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden.

Please join us again tomorrow for what is shaping up to be another lively day.

Ron DeSantis claims he’s “doing better than everybody else” in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, despite overwhelming evidence he is far behind Donald Trump.

The eye-raising claim came as he attempted to explain his lackluster recent polling in his CNN interview, which, as we’ve noted, is the first time the rightwing Republican governor has strayed beyond the friendly confines of Fox News.

He referenced his re-election in Florida in November:

I took a state that had been a one-point state, and we won it by 20 percentage points, 1.5 million votes. Our bread and butter were people like suburban moms, we’re leading a big movement for parents be involved in education, school choice, get the indoctrination out of schools.

I was getting a lot of media attention at the time coming off the victory. I had to do my job as governor with my legislative session, and we had a great legislative session. I had to do that and I was basically taking fire.

A lot of people view me as a threat. I think the left views me as a threat because they think I’ll beat Biden and actually deliver on all this stuff. And then of course people that have their allegiances … [and people] have gone after me.

But the reality is this is a state by state process. I’m not running a campaign to try to juice you know, whatever we are in the national polls, and then whatever we did in the CNN [poll]. It’s fine. I’m definitely doing better than everybody else.

Ron DeSantis is insisting that “nobody really knows what wokeness is” as he attempts to defend his attacks on the US military for being “woke”.

The Florida governor and presidential hopeful gave a campaign speech earlier today condemning “woke” in the armed forces that he says is becoming a deterrent to recruitment.

Jake Tapper, the CNN host of DeSantis’s interview, is pushing back, citing recruitment statistics that say “wokeness” in the military is a long way down the list.

DeSantis said:

People see the military losing its way, not focusing on the mission, and focusing on a lot of these other things, which we see that in other aspects of society.

People want to join the military because they think it’s something different. And I think some of the civilian leaders in the military are trying to have the military mimic corporate America, academia, that’s ultimately not going to work.

Nobody really knows what wokeness is. I defined it, but a lot of people who railed against wokeness can’t even define it. There’s huge amount of concern about the direction that the military is going with all this.

DeSantis brushed off a question on the war in Ukraine, calling it a “secondary or tertiary” priority for the US:

The number one threat to our country is from China. We are going to approach the world instead of Europe being the focus, like it has been since world war two, and it was understandable why it would be, Nato stopping the Soviets, but now the Asia Pacific really needs to be to our generation what Europe was to the post-world war two generation.

Prosecutors in Michigan have filed felony charges against 16 state residents “for their role in the alleged false electors scheme” that followed the 2020 US presidential election.

The scheme, repeated in several swing states, attempted to install voters to falsely certify that Donald Trump had won the state, and deny Joe Biden victory.

We’ll have more details soon.

The court hearing in Fort Pierce, Florida, has wrapped up, with federal judge Aileen Cannon indicating she is not minded to move towards a quick trial for Donald Trump over his hoarding of classified documents.

According to the CNN account of proceedings, Cannon, a Trump appointee, called the justice department’s proposed timeline for a December start as “rushed”, and she “challenged prosecutors to explain to her exactly how this was not what is called a complex trial”, referring to the espionage element of some of the charges against Trump.

Lawyers for the defense also spoke, arguing Trump “is unlike any other defendant”, and repeating their request to delay the trial until after the 2024 election.

While Cannon reportedly does not look minded to grant that request, she said she would look at the timeline and make a ruling shortly.

Ron DeSantis is defending Donald Trump, his chief rival for the Republican presidential nomination, during his first non-Fox News interview.

Florida’s governor is speaking on CNN now, repeating the former president’s claim that the justice department is being “weaponized”, though, notably, trying to distance himself from Trump over his January 6 conduct.

DeSantis told host Jake Tapper:

This country is going down the road of criminalizing political differences. And I think that’s wrong. [Manhattan district attorney] Alvin Bragg stretched the statute to be able to try to target Donald Trump.

Most people, even people on the left, acknowledge if that wasn’t Trump, that case would not have likely been brought against the normal civilian.

As president, my job is to restore a single standard of justice to end weaponization of these agencies. We’re gonna have a new FBI director on day one, we’re gonna have big changes at the department of justice.

Americans across the political spectrum, need to have confidence that what is going on is based on the rule of law, not based on what political tribe you’re in.

DeSantis’s interview looks like it’s going to be played in chunks throughout the coming hour, rather than as one big block.

Before it began, Tapper wondered at the timing of Trump’s decision to announce he had received the “target” letter from justice department special counsel Jack Smith, noting it was suspiciously close to the DeSantis interview.

The Trump target letter story has dominated the day’s headlines and assuredly stolen some of DeSantis’s thunder.

Here’s a recap of today’s developments:

• A new indictment for Donald Trump could be imminent after the former US president announced on Tuesday morning he had received a letter from special prosecutor Jack Smith identifying him as a “target” in the justice department’s investigation into the January 6 insurrection. People who receive target letters from federal authorities are often – but not always – indicted. It is unclear what specific charges Trump could face.

• Federal prosecutors have reportedly interviewed officials from all seven battleground states targeted by former Trump and his allies in their efforts to overturn the 2020 election results – Nevada, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and New Mexico.

• Republicans defended Trump after news of the latest development, criticizing the Biden administration for his prosecution. Speaker Kevin McCarthysuggested the government was targeting Trump out of fear he could win next November, while House majority leader Steve Scalise questioned the timing of the new development in the January 6 investigation.

• President Joe Biden “respects the Department of Justice, their independence”, the White House’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a briefing.

• Lawyers for Trump and federal prosecutors have appeared before US district judge Aileen Cannon for a first hearing in Florida that could decide the crucial timing of the former president’s criminal case concerning the mishandling of classified documents. Tuesday’s session is Cannon’s first time hearing arguments in the case since Trump’s indictment last month.

• Trump is already facing criminal charges in Florida for illegally hoarding classified documents from his presidency, and prosecution in New York for a hush-money payment to an adult movie star.

• Trump is also under investigation in Fulton county, Georgia, for efforts to overturn his defeat to Biden there. Georgia’s supreme court on Monday unanimously rejected a request by Trump to block the prosecutor, Fani Willis, from prosecuting the case. His lawyers had argued that a special grand jury report that is part of the inquiry should be thrown out.

• Ron DeSantis is formally a candidate in South Carolina’s 2024 presidential primary after the Republican Florida governor filed paperwork during a campaign stop. He’s the first presidential candidate from either major political party on the ballot for the primary, which will take place on 3 February, the first of any other southern state.

• Democratic divisions over Israel were on stark display, as lawmakers prepared to welcome Isaac “Bougie” Herzog, the president of Israel, for an address to a joint session of Congress. Several progressive House members, including Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, intend to boycott Herzog’s speech on Wednesday to protest the treatment of Palestinians under the government of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

US district judge Aileen Cannon said a proposal from federal prosecutors that a trial in the classified documents case against Donald Trump and his aide, Walt Nauta, be held in mid-December was “a bit rushed”, CNN is reporting.

Cannon did not decide on a trial date but said she plans to “promptly” issue an order on the matter, the news channel said.

Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is due to sit down with CNN’s Jake Tapper for a rare interview that will air at 4pm ET.

It will be his first discussion with a major news organization other than Fox News.

The interview comes days after a report said DeSantis had reduced campaign staff as his campaign has struggled to meet fundraising goals. Fewer than 10 staffers were reportedly laid off.

Democratic divisions over Israel were on stark display on Tuesday, as lawmakers prepared to welcome Isaac “Bougie” Herzog, the president of Israel, for an address to a joint session of Congress.

Several progressive House members, including Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, intend to boycott Herzog’s speech on Wednesday to protest the treatment of Palestinians under the government of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

“In solidarity with the Palestinian people and all those who have been harmed by Israel’s apartheid government, I will be boycotting President Herzog’s joint address to Congress,” Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat of Michigan, said on Monday.

I urge all members of Congress who stand for human rights for all to join me.

House Democratic leaders have struck a much more conciliatory tone toward Herzog, embracing the opportunity to hear from the Israeli president.

“President Bougie Herzog has been a force for good in Israeli society,” Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, said on Friday.

I look forward to welcoming him with open arms when he comes to speak before Congress.

The tension between House Democrats reached a boiling point over the weekend, after Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, described Israel as a “racist state” while speaking at a conference in Chicago.