| | | | |  | | By Kimberly Leonard | |  Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is rushed offstage by U.S. Secret Service agents after being grazed by a bullet during a rally on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images | | Good morning and welcome to Monday. Vice President Kamala Harris postponed a campaign stop in Palm Beach County. The Trump campaign warned staff to avoid its West Palm Beach headquarters. Rep. Matt Gaetz is leading a “Never Surrender” rally at a Pensacola church to support and pray for former President Donald Trump. Saturday’s attempted assassination in Pennsylvania — which left one dead and two wounded in addition to Trump — has sent shockwaves through Florida ahead of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Gov. Ron DeSantis is questioning whether the FBI “bureaucracy” can be trusted to conduct the investigation. Some Florida Republicans like Sen. Rick Scott want Secret Service to answer questions during Senate hearings about what happened. Democrats like Rep. Jared Moskowitz agreed that Congress must examine the security failures and told CBS Miami’s Jim DeFede a hearing would be scheduled in a House panel for next week. Members from both sides of the aisle are calling for each other to tone down the rhetoric around the forthcoming election. Yet the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee is going ahead as planned. The city has a heavy police presence and barricades are circling the perimeter of the convention area. In an unexpected twist of symbolism, the Republican Party of Florida’s headquarters for this week’s events happen to be at the spot where President Theodore Roosevelt survived an attempted assassination during his 1912 campaign. Yesterday afternoon, Republicans who had flown in from all over Florida were taking their photos next to a commemorative plaque marking the spot. RPOF Chair Evan Power told Playbook the attempted assassination against Trump had made “everyone more unified” and that the party sent its members a text saying they intended to carry on with the scheduled program. No participants had dropped out, Power said, adding that instead they’d become “more inspired than ever” to nominate Trump this week. He and a group of about 20 RPOF members had been at the Brewers’ game during Trump's Saturday rally. The state party is hosting a breakfast with Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) this morning and an evening reception with Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis. Floridians are also gracing the main stage all week, including DeSantis, Scott and Sen. Marco Rubio, as well as Reps. Matt Gaetz, Byron Donalds, Mike Waltz, Brian Mast and Anna Paulina Luna. And Florida’s delegates are gung-ho about making Trump their nominee. The president “dodged a literal bullet,” Tom Gaitens, a Florida delegate of Hillsborough County, told Playbook, saying he’d woken up yesterday morning “relieved and ready to move forward.” “There’s a job in front of us,” he added. Madison Cawthorn — a Florida alternate delegate who made the state his home after losing his House reelection race — predicted the shooting would result in a “mass tipping point” in favor of Trump. Similar thoughts were echoed by delegate Peter Feaman of Clay County, who said he expects some voters who’d been on the fence to sympathize with Trump after his near-death experience. “A lot of people vote not on logic and reason,” he said, “but on emotion.” THIS WEEK: Playbook is on the ground at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Send tips to kleonard@politico.com about Florida-focused get togethers, speaking slots and anything else of interest to our readers.
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, our newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRIBE NOW. | | | | | |  | ... DATELINE TALLAHASSEE ... | | CYBER ATTACK — “HIV diagnoses, patient data released in Florida health department hack,” reports the Tampa Bay Times’ Lawrence Mower. “Floridians’ recent HIV test results, detailed doctors’ notes and immunization and virus testing records were among thousands of state health department files seized by hackers — and released on the dark web last week. Posted online are more than 20,000 files with some Floridians’ most sensitive information: lab results, signed medical release forms, workers compensation records and COVID-19 diagnoses. One file included a photo of a person’s passport. Another file is a woman’s negative mammogram result. Many of the records include patients’ full names, dates of birth, addresses, Social Security numbers and insurance information. Most records are dated 2023 and 2024.”
| | PENINSULA AND BEYOND | | STEPPING DOWN — “Florida university president resigns after nine-figure donation snafu,” reports POLITICO’s Andrew Atterbury. “Florida A&M University President Larry Robinson is resigning as leader of the state’s only public historically Black university, a decision that comes amid a probe into a dubious failed $237 million donation that one key official labeled as an ‘embarrassment.’ Robinson, who has led the school for nearly seven years, announced the decision Friday, although the specific timing for when he will step down as president is undecided. His departure opens a key void in Florida’s university system, one that will be filled by trustees in the coming months and could be influenced by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration, which has been aggressive in reshaping higher education in the state.” MILWAUKEE BOUND — “Old Rubio confidante accused of acting as Venezuela agent can go to RNC, judge says,” by the Miami Herald’s Max Greenwood and Gabriela Henriquez Stoikow. “A federal judge is allowing embattled former U.S. Rep. David Rivera to travel to Wisconsin for the Republican National Convention. The question is: does U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio want him there? Rivera, who’s charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent for Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro’s government, has a decades-long personal and political relationship with Rubio. The two men have known one another for decades, and even owned a home together in Tallahassee at one point. They served alongside one another in the Florida state House and Rivera won his U.S. House seat the same year Rubio was elected to the Senate.” MATCH DELAY — “Fans breach security gates at Hard Rock Stadium, delaying start of Copa America final,” reports Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald. “The Argentine and Colombian fans’ passion for their national soccer teams was palpable long before kickoff of the Copa America final at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday night, but some fans were so desperate to get in that they stormed a gate and breached security, forcing police to lock down the entrance temporarily. Kickoff was delayed from 8 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. as a result, as thousands of fans were stranded outside the gates, waiting to get in. At one point, with a growing concern for a potential stampede that could injure fans, stadium management, CONMEBOL and the Miami Dade Police Department conferred and decided to open the gates and let people in without checking tickets.”
| | ...HURRICANE HOLE... | | MIXED PICTURE — “Citizens says it's financially ready for storm season; policyholders will still pay more in 2025,” reports the Palm Beach Post’s Anne Geggis. “This week's report on the financial standing of the state's largest property insurer offered critical reassurance. Namely, that Citizens Property Insurance Corp. won’t see storm losses pound its reserves down to the level that triggers a 1 percent surcharge on every insurance policy paid in Florida. A surcharge was last levied after the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons saw a conga line of eight storms hit the state. Still, Citizens’ policyholders will pay an average of 14 percent more for property insurance premiums in 2025, if the state’s insurance regulators second the rate hike that Citizens approved last month.” — “Hurricane Beryl could cost private insurers $500 million for damage in the Caribbean,” reports the Miami Herald’s Jacqueline Charles and Alex Harris.
| | CAMPAIGN MODE | | | | 
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) arrives before former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Trump National Doral Miami, on July 9 in Doral, Florida. | Rebecca Blackwell/AP | VEEPSTAKES — “Trump assassination attempt casts a cloud over what could be Rubio’s brightest moment,” reports Max Greenwood of the Miami Herald. “The brightest moment of Marco Rubio’s political career could be on the horizon, as former President Donald Trump weighs whether to name him as a running mate during the Republican National Convention this week in Milwaukee. But it would come amid a cloud cast over American politics, following Saturday’s failed attempt on Trump’s life at a political rally … Trump has been expected to unveil his running mate choice as soon as Monday. Whether those plans would change was unclear Sunday afternoon, though convention organizers said the event would continue as planned.” — “In Hillsborough state attorney race, candidates grapple over gun case,” reports Dan Sullivan and Sue Carlton of the Tampa Bay Times.
| | TRUMPLANDIA AND THE SWAMP | | CHANGEUP — “Trump rewrites Republican convention speech to focus on unity not Biden,” reports the Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito. “Former President Donald Trump has completely rewritten his convention speech in light of the assassination attempt against him on Saturday and will call on Thursday for a new effort at national unity. In an exclusive interview with the Washington Examiner a day after being hit by a sniper’s bullet, Trump said he wanted to take advantage of a historic moment and draw the country together. ‘The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger,’ he said, ‘Had this not happened, this would’ve been one of the most incredible speeches’ aimed mostly at the policies of President Joe Biden. ‘Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now.’” ‘SHE HATES THE LIMELIGHT’ — “Meet the mild-mannered Florida woman quietly steering the Trump campaign,” by Zac Anderson of USA Today. “Among the most powerful figures in national politics, [Susie] Wiles has helped lead Trump’s political operation for three years and now is co-piloting a presidential campaign that's in as strong a position as it ever could have expected to deliver the controversial former president back to the White House. Yet Wiles, 66, remains a somewhat mysterious figure, rarely front and center on the campaign trail or heard from in public other than through campaign memos co-signed by Trump’s other top campaign aide.” TRUMP ADS — “Orlando attorney Dan Newlin launches ‘$1M+’ Trump billboard campaign,” reports Steven Lemongello of the Orlando Sentinel. “Drivers on I-4 passing the inescapable billboards for law firms are getting an additional message in between clients touting seven-figure jury awards: ads for Donald Trump. Orlando attorney Dan Newlin has doubled down on his firm’s controversial Super Bowl commercial, in which he wore a red ‘Make America Great Again’ hat in an ad that wasn’t otherwise political, by launching what he said was a ‘million dollar-plus’ campaign to place electronic billboards promoting the Republican presidential bid not only in Florida but in three crucial swing states.” — “What is Project 2025, and what does it mean for Florida?” by Nina Moske of the Tampa Bay Times.
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