DeSantis Would Be Working At A ‘Pizza Parlor’ Without My Endorsement, Trump Says In Hannity Interview

Topline

Former President Donald Trump criticized the multiple ongoing investigations he is facing, took several shots at Ron DeSantis—his main rival for the GOP Presidential nomination—and claimed that he had a “one day” solution to end the war in Ukraine as he sat down for an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday.

Former President Donald Trump has recently stepped up attacks on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who … [+] has emerged as his chief rival in for the GOP 2024 presidential nomination.

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Key Facts

In his interview with the Fox News host, Trump attacked Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s hush-money investigation, claiming without evidence that it is “election interference,” and a “new way of cheating in elections.”

dressing his controversial Truth Social post warning of nationwide “death and destruction” in the event of his indictment, the former president insisted he was not calling for violence, but instead he was “afraid people will do something.”

Trump reserved his sharpest attack for his biggest potential rival for the 2024 GOP nomination, Ron DeSantis, saying the Florida governor would be working at “a pizza parlor place” without his support in the 2018 gubernatorial race.

The former president said he and the Florida governor were “not friends” and he only knew DeSantis as one of 150 people defending him in the first impeachment trial, who later came to him “with tears in his eyes” and was “desperate” for his endorsement.

Trump also chimed in on the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, blaming it on “interest-rate-happy” Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who the former president claimed sharply cut rates during his presidency as “he thought I was going to fire him.”

On the Ukraine conflict, Trump said the current administration could lead the country into “a nuclear World War III” and claimed he would have it solved in 24 hours with Zelensky and Putin, but refused to disclose any additional details.

News Peg

Speaking about the classified documents investigation, Trump continued to insist he has the right to “take stuff” as the former president under the Presidential Records Act. When Hannity attempted to step in and said “But I know you, I don’t think you would do it,” Trump responded: “I don’t have a lot of time, but I would have the right to do that. I would do that.” The former president then claimed the documents issued had become a “bigger problem” for Joe Biden, alluding to classified documents being discovered at the President’s former office and his Delaware residence. Trump then veered into conspiracy theory territory, saying “they say he [Biden] is getting paid off by China and he’s got boxes stored in Chinatown.”

Tangent

dressing another one of his controversial Truth Social posts, which included an image of him holding a baseball bat next to an image of Bragg, Trump said he was simply sharing the link to an article and was unaware about the image linked to the piece. The former president placed the blame on the publisher of the article, adding: “they put up a picture of me…where I was holding the baseball bat…next to that picture a picture of Alvin Bragg. I didn’t do it, they did it.” The post was eventually deleted after drawing widespread criticism. The former president also claimed that Twitter wants him back “desperately,” but when asked if he would go back, Trump said “We’ll talk about that at some point.”

Surprising Fact

Trump’s appearance on Hannity appears to signal the end of what Semafor previously reported was a “soft ban” on the former president implemented by Fox News’ leadership. According to the report, Trump’s last weekday appearance on the network was also in an interview with Hannity back in September last year discussing the classified documents probe. Trump himself had spent the last few weeks attacking Fox and its increased coverage of DeSantis.