DeSantis agrees to debate with Gavin Newsom: ‘Just tell me when and where’

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis agreed to debate California Gov. Gavin Newsom to highlight the differences in governing between the Sunshine State and the Golden State. 

"I'm game. Let's get it done. Just tell me when and where. We'll do it," DeSantis said Wednesday on "Hannity." 

The GOP presidential candidate said the debate between California and Florida has in a way already been settled by voters and residents who fled Newsom’s state and moved to Florida. 

GAVIN NEWSOM'S IN-LAWS FLED FROM CALIFORNIA TO FLORIDA DURING THE PANDEMIC, RECORDS SHOW

"Florida has been the number one state for net in-migration. We have the number one ranked economy, [we’re] number one now in education, crime rate at a 50-year low. But in another sense, this is the debate for the future of our country because you have people like Joe Biden. They would love to see the Californication of the United States," DeSantis explained. 

He added that if the nation follows Democrats’ "Californication" vision for the country, American decline will be accelerated.

"We can't see America decline anymore. We need to reverse American decline," DeSantis said. 

Newsom accepted host Sean Hannity’s invitation in June to debate the Florida governor on a variety of different topics, even calling for a three-hour debate between the two. 

An aide for the California governor told Politico that DeSantis "should put up or shut up." "Anything else is just games," the aide said. 

FLORIDA GOV. RON DESANTIS SWIPES AT NEWSOM'S ‘TERRIBLE GOVERNANCE’ IN CALIFORNIA

Newsom has sparred with DeSantis in recent months over the presidential candidate’s stance on migrants, education and gun rights.

DeSantis hit back at the former mayor of San Francisco daring him to run for president in 2024 and challenge President Biden for the Democratic nomination. 

"Stop pussyfooting around," the Florida governor said. 

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Eric Trump says father will 'fight like hell' against special counsel's indictment

Trump Organization vice president Eric Trump pledged his father Donald will "fight like hell" against Special Counsel Jack Smith's latest indictment.

Smith indicted former President Trump Tuesday on four charges – conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstructing an official proceeding, as well as a post-Civil War law intended to blunt Ku Klux Klan intimidation of newly-freed slaves; conspiracy against rights.

"We've dealt with this nonsense from the very beginning. We dealt with it with all the impeachments," Eric Trump, who also serves as president of Trump Winery in Virginia, told Fox News on Wednesday. 

"We dealt with the slanderous Russia lies the [allegations] that we were colluding with the Kremlin [and] that we had secret servers in the basement of Trump Tower."

The younger Trump told "Jesse Watters Primetime" that allegations from the Washington, D.C. establishment have been "lie after lie" intended to weaken him and his populist movement.

LEGAL EXPERT: JACK SMITH SHOULD BE ‘INDICTED FOR STUPIDITY’

"They've slandered him from day-one," he said, collectively calling Smith and other detractors "desperate."

Trump suggested Democrats and the establishment are frightened of the prospect that his father becomes the second president since Democrat Grover Cleveland to serve a second nonconsecutive term – and thereby oust President Biden.

"[H]e's absolutely running way from the rest of the [Republican primary] field," he noted, adding that Biden's poll numbers continue to falter, and that Democrats want the Republican frontrunner out of the race.

"I think my father's greatest legacy is actually going to be exposing these frauds for what they are. He exposed them in 2016. They were upset about it. He's exposing them again," Eric Trump added.

EX-VIRGINIA GOV WHO SAW CONVICTION BY JACK SMITH TOSSED BY SCOTUS SAYS HE'D RATHER WIN THAN GET IT RIGHT

He said his father has ultimately lost his First Amendment rights by way of the charges in Smith's indictment, which focus on his contention the 2020 election was flawed or stolen.

He added that the then-president did not foment violence on January 6, noting how he invited those gathered to listen to his speech on the Ellipse that day to "peacefully and patriotically" make their way down Pennsylvania Avenue NW if they so desired.

"He used the word ‘peacefully’ ten times. All his tweets were fantastic. But they will do nothing more than try and stop [him]."

Eric Trump cited Smith's own comments on moving the case along expeditiously, saying that suggests an intent to "take the guy out" before the 2024 election.

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He compared his father's plight to that of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was subject to disputed claims he harassed women, and the Obama-era Internal Revenue Service becoming "weaponized" against conservative 501(c)3 groups.

He concluded that if Smith does get the case to trial before the election, it will be "interesting" to watch the feds "relitigate" allegations of election malfeasance in places referenced in the indictment like Philadelphia.

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