Shortly after the news broke that former President Donald Trump had been indicted in Manhattan on Thursday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — a likely primary opponent of Trump’s in the 2024 election if both are able to run — tweeted that Florida would not help with any extradition of Trump, should it be necessary.
“Florida will not assist in an extradition request given the questionable circumstances at issue with this Soros-backed Manhattan prosecutor and his political agenda,” DeSantis wrote.
First of all, this isn’t even much of a possibility, given that Trump reportedly plans to appear for an arraignment in Manhattan on Tuesday.
This is, instead, a blatant political move by DeSantis to help win points with the MAGA crowd, as someone who understands that so many Republican voters, even those who don’t intend to vote for Trump, view the Trump indictment as a political ploy. DeSantis likely knows too well the wrath that delivering Trump to the New York courts would incur within his party. He knows the importance of keeping those voters in his good graces as he prepares for a presidential run — particularly if Trump is unable to run.
DeSantis likely knows too well the wrath that delivering Trump to the New York courts would incur within his party.
In the unlikely event that things did come to that — if a MAGA crowd helped barricade Trump in Mar-a-Lago as he hid from the Manhattan courts — DeSantis could complicate things, but not much else. He would be able to make a political show of things and slow the process down, but it’s almost certain he couldn’t stop extradition.
The U.S. Constitution contains an Extradition Clause, also known as the Interstate Rendition Clause, which states that a person charged with a crime in one state who “shall flee from justice” and be found in another state “shall” be “removed” to the state in which the person faces charges. Longstanding federal law echoes this.
In Florida, the extradition procedures…
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