Two Florida Republicans who will support former President Donald Trump in 2024 say they are upset by the leak of 2018 debate-prep tapes that show Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis mulling how to express disagreement with Mr. Trump without angering his base.
Reps. Matt Gaetz and Byron Donalds said it was petty for someone to give the clips to ABC News.
“Though I prefer Trump for President (bigly), the release of these videos by the person operating the camera is disloyal hackery that I do not abide,” Mr. Gaetz said on Twitter. “Staffers who leak on the candidates they’ve done work for deserve the reputations they get.”
Mr. Donalds said he worked on the debate team for Mr. DeSantis — who defeated Democrat Andrew Gillum in 2018 and won reelection last year — and found the leak to be “low class.”
Mr. DeSantis, a Republican who is expected to challenge Mr. Trump in the presidential primary, tells aides in the clip that he has to “figure out how” to express any differences with Mr. Trump in the clips.
“Obviously there is because, I mean, I voted contrary to him in the Congress,” Mr. DeSantis said. “I have to frame it in a way that’s not going to piss off all his voters.”
Mr. DeSantis suggests that if he had a disagreement with Mr. Trump, he would talk to him in private.
A DeSantis spokesman, Dave Abrams, told Fox New Digital the leak was a “swing and miss” by ABC and its parent company, Disney, which is in a long-running feud with the governor.
“The best their propaganda machine could do with the 2.5 hours of leaked footage is further [proof] that Ron DeSantis is unwilling to be anyone but his authentic self — no matter the politics,” he said.
Commenters on Mr. Gaetz’s tweet said they saw nothing wrong in what Mr. DeSantis said and he was just being candid.
Still, Mr. DeSantis would have to find a way to thread the same needle if and when he formally confronts Mr. Trump in the presidential primary.
Political analysts say GOP candidates may try to run to the right of Mr. Trump on issues like criminal justice or debt and federal spending, hoping to portray themselves as defenders of conservative values while Mr. Trump takes populist stances.
Mr. Trump has a wide lead in early polling, however, and is going on the attack by trying out various nicknames for Mr. DeSantis and painting him as a threat to Medicare and Social Security.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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