| | | | |  | | By Kimberly Leonard | | Presented by |  | | | |  Gov. Ron DeSantis listens as Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody speaks during a press conference regarding an apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 17, 2024. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images | Good morning and welcome to Thursday. Gov. RON DESANTIS was supposed to headline a press conference on Wednesday with Florida Attorney General ASHLEY MOODY in Stuart, Florida. But then fog intervened, grounding the governor’s plane and others in Tallahassee. It’s probably just as well for Moody that she wound up leading the event solo. The topic was big and involved President-elect DONALD TRUMP. The state charged Ryan Routh, the alleged would-be Trump assassin, with attempted felony murder of a six-year-old girl. She was left with near-fatal injuries from a multivehicle car accident a few miles down from where officers stopped Routh’s car after he tried to flee the scene outside Trump’s golf course. Moody, a Republican, used her platform on Wednesday to cast doubt on whether federal investigators could be neutral in the assassination attempt investigation against the once and future president. By doing so, she was echoing a favorite talking point of Trump, who frequently accuses federal law enforcement of being “weaponized” against him. DeSantis tasked Moody with launching the state investigation in the first place, in parallel to the federal one, and before the election Trump said he would prefer Florida take over. This all potentially goes beyond DeSantis and Trump’s newfound bonhomie. Moody is considered to be a top contender to fill the Senate seat that’s soon to be vacated by State Department-bound MARCO RUBIO. But that’s a tall order when much of MAGAworld is pushing for LARA TRUMP, his daughter-in-law and former Republican National Committee co-chair, to get the seat. DeSantis is ultimately the one who gets to decide. There’s always the possibility of selling Trump and his allies on somebody else — even if that person endorsed DeSantis in the 2024 Republican primary and has been a steadfast loyalist to the governor. Trump himself acknowledged earlier this week that DeSantis was unlikely to pick his daughter-in-law. If that is in fact what’s going on with Moody, the attorney general understood the assignment on Wednesday. She praised the incoming administration and picks for top federal law enforcement roles and accused the Biden administration of stonewalling Florida’s criminal probe. She reminded Floridians that she’d even written a letter to encourage the Senate to confirm PAM BONDI, Trump’s pick for attorney general who once held Moody’s job, and praised KASH PATEL, Trump's pick for FBI director. “Much to do has been made that some of these nominations may not be the traditional type of candidates that we have seen historically,” Moody said. “And I would submit to you that we are not in a traditional moment in this nation.” In her role as attorney general, Moody has sued the Biden administration dozens of times, including on federal student loan cancellation, illegal immigration and a rule for employers to accommodate time off for abortions. On Wednesday, she made clear that she expected the relationship with the federal government and Florida to go in a different direction after Trump is sworn in, including on the investigation in question. “I expect a new day is coming,” Moody said. “I expect that next month we will see new leadership in agencies that will rightly reach out as intended and as is done historically.” Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget that Playbook should look at? Get in touch at: kleonard@politico.com. PROGRAMMING NOTE: Friday will be our last edition for the year. We’ll be back to our normal schedule on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025.
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Learn more. | | | |  | ... DATELINE TALLAHASSEE ... | | NEEDS RECOVERY HELP — “Rural renaissance: Can state lawmakers help rebuild Taylor County's economy?” by James Call of USA Today Network-Florida. “Senate President Ben Albritton is trying to figure out how to help Perry, a small town in the state's Big Bend battered by three hurricanes and abandoned by the county’s largest employer in a span of 13 months beginning last August. “Speaking with reporters this week ahead of the 2025 legislative session, his first as a presiding officer, Albritton said he wants to spark a ‘rural renaissance,’ a time when the state and rural counties partner to improve health care, education, transportation and food security.” FROM GUTHRIE PRESSER — “Florida unveils new artificial intelligence-driven emergency messaging system,” reports Alan Festo of The Gainesville Sun. “The Florida Division of Emergency Management, with assistance from the University of Florida, unveiled a new program on Wednesday that uses artificial intelligence to deliver real-time messaging before, during and after a disaster strikes. “The Broadcast Emergency Alerts and Communications Operations Network, or BEACON, pulls relevant information from the local, state and federal levels and converts that information from text to voice to deliver over the airwaves in minutes what could previously take hours.” TOP SPOT — State Rep. SUSAN VALDÉS, the recent Democrat-to-Republican convert from Tampa, just got tapped as vice chair for the House Budget Committee, reports Janelle Irwin Taylor of Florida Politics.
| | | | You read POLITICO for trusted reporting. Now follow every twist of the lame duck session with Inside Congress. We track the committee meetings, hallway conversations, and leadership signals that show where crucial year-end deals are heading. Subscribe now. | | | | | | | PENINSULA AND BEYOND | | UNSEALED INDICTMENT — “New charges target ex-Miami congressman for lobbying on behalf of sanctioned Venezuelan tycoon,” reports Joshua Goodman of The Associated Press. “A federal grand jury in Washington has returned an indictment against former Congressman David Rivera for failing to register as a foreign agent of a sanctioned Venezuelan media tycoon on whose behalf the Miami Republican allegedly lobbied the Trump administration. “The indictment is the second set of criminal charges to examine Rivera’s relationship with Raúl Gorrín, a billionaire businessman charged in 2018 and again in 2024 with bribing senior Venezuelan officials in corrupt deals to embezzle state funds from Nicolas Maduro’s administration.” SEEKING DISMISSAL — “Saying the ‘Constitution does not mandate comfortable prisons,’ Florida corrections officials want a federal judge to toss out a potential class-action lawsuit alleging the state has violated inmates’ rights because of hot conditions at a Miami-Dade County prison,” reports Jim Saunders of the News Service of Florida. — “Alexander brothers’ friend cuts Japan honeymoon short, turns self in on sex assault charge,” by the Miami Herald’s Charles Rabin. — “Frank Artiles appeals conviction in ‘ghost candidate’ case,” reports Jesse Scheckner of Florida Politics.
| | | | A message from Instagram:   | | | | | DATELINE D.C. | | TORPEDOED — The House has canceled votes on its spending plan, which included $100 billion in disaster aid funding in part to provide assistance following Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Trump and Vice President-elect JD VANCE came out against the federal spending bill on Wednesday, calling instead for a pared-back measure coupled with a debt-limit increase just as Congress members and their staff are eager to leave Washington for the holidays. The U.S. will face a partial shutdown if lawmakers can’t come to an agreement before midnight Friday. GOV’S TAKE — DeSantis backed Trump’s positions over social media and skewered lawmakers who “hide behind disaster relief funding.” He pointed to Florida as a state that both prioritized disaster funding and paying down debt, then warned the planned CR would “continue wasting your tax dollars, exacerbating inflation, and driving our nation deeper into debt.”
|  Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) attends a cocktail hour at New York Young Republican Club's annual gala at Cipriani Wall Street in New York on Dec. 15, 2024. | Yuki Iwamura/AP | GAETZ-GATE — The House Ethics Committee secretly voted earlier this month to release their probe into former Rep. MATT GAETZ (R-Fla.) that reportedly includes allegations of drug use and having sex with a 17-year-old, report POLITICO’s Nicholas Wu, Daniella Diaz and Olivia Beavers. The forthcoming release means that “at least one Republican on the panel, which has membership that is evenly split between both parties, sided with Democrats to release the report,” POLITICO wrote. Gaetz is threatening to go scorched earth. He said on X an ally told him to consider going to Congress on House swearing-in day — given that he already has been elected to the seat — and vote in the speaker election. Then he would take the oath (which he’d previously ruled out) and file a privileged motion to “expose every ‘me too’ settlement paid using public funds” of former and current members. Afterward, he would resign and head to OAN to take up his new primetime anchor job. Gaetz has denied the allegations and a Justice Department investigation into the matter did not result in charges. Gaetz wrote on social media Wednesday that he wouldn't have any opportunity to debate the allegations once they come out since he’s no longer a member of Congress. He described his former lifestyle as "working too hard" and “playing too hard.” “It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life,” he said. “I live a different life now.”
| | | | POLITICO Pro's unique analysis combines exclusive transition intelligence and data visualization to help you understand not just what's changing, but why it matters for your organization. Explore how POLITICO Pro will make a difference for you. | | | | | | | TRUMPLANDIA AND THE SWAMP | | SECRETARY OF STATE INCOMING — “Rubio's toughest diplomacy task may be in Trump's Washington,” reports Axios’ Barak Ravid. “Some key foreign policy issues are run from the White House in most administrations, but Trump has appointed numerous presidential envoys and given them many of the State Department's responsibilities. “They've already started meeting with foreign diplomats and traveling to the regions they're assigned to work on. Rubio on the other hand has declined all requests by foreign diplomats and ministers to meet with him, saying he is focused on his confirmation process and staffing the State Department, three sources with direct knowledge told Axios.” INCOMING NAT SEC ADVISER — “For Waltz, advising isolationist Trump is Taiwan-sized challenge,” reports Bloomberg’s Jenny Leonard. “[Rep. Mike] Waltz’s new boss swept back to the White House as voters embraced his America First-branded approach to foreign policy, prioritizing domestic manufacturing and avoiding foreign entanglements. “That’s bad news for Taiwan, the self-governed island that has long been the biggest flashpoint between the world’s two superpowers, and home to massive semiconductor manufacturing facilities that Trump and Democrats alike are eager to return to US shores.” BRACING FOR TRUMP POLICIES — “With President Donald Trump poised to begin his second term next month, officials in South Florida are wondering whether [the] flow of federal [infrastructure] money — so crucial to building and buying their way to a dry future under climate change — will keep coming in the next four years,” reports Alex Harris of the Miami Herald.
| | ODDS, ENDS AND FLORIDA MEN | | — Disney World is temporarily closing its Hall of Presidents in January for an upgrade that’ll come later in 2025, Florida Politics reported. — Rep. MAXWELL FROST (D-Fla.) gave ELON MUSK a hand in getting the paperwork for someone to primary him in 2026. BIRTHDAYS: (was Wednesday) Stephanie Smith with Tampa Electric … Former Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas … Bradley Gerber, director at Golin Public Relations.
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