No, Ron DeSantis Can't Stop Donald Trump Being Extradited

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has said his state will "not assist" in any attempt to extradite Florida resident Donald Trump to New York, after he became the first ex-president in U.S. history to be criminally indicted.

This appears to contradict comments the governor made on March 20, when he insisted "we're not getting involved in any way," which outraged prominent Trump supporters.

While he has yet to declare his candidacy, polling shows DeSantis is by some margin the most dangerous Republican rival Trump could face in his bid to become the party's 2024 presidential candidate. Trump, who lives at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, has been fiercely critical of DeSantis over the past couple of months, branding him Ron DeSanctimonious and accusing him of disloyalty.

Trump is facing charges over allegations he broke campaign finance rules by orchestrating the payment of $130,000 in hush money to Stormy Daniels, to stop the pornographic actress publicly claiming she'd had an affair with him ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump insists he did nothing wrong, and has described the case against him as "corrupt" and "fake."

Reacting to Trump's indictment on Thursday, DeSantis tweeted: "The weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head. It is un-American.

"The Soros-backed Manhattan District Attorney has consistently bent the law to downgrade felonies and to excuse criminal misconduct. Yet, now he is stretching the law to target a political opponent.

"Florida will not assist in an extradition request given the questionable circumstances at issue with this Soros-backed Manhattan prosecutor and his political agenda."

Republicans have been linking the case to financier George Soros, a hate figure for the right due to his support for progressive causes, as he donated to a liberal group which in turn supported the election campaign of Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney who indicted Trump.

Trump's legal team has indicated the former president will hand himself in to authorities in New York, making DeSantis' position moot.

However, even if Trump were to refuse to cooperate and remain in Florida, DeSantis couldn't block his arrest, according to Ambrosio Rodriguez, a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor.

Speaking to Newsweek, he said: "Extradition between states is a pretty simple and common process. We are all citizens of one country. The states, although sovereign, cannot stop a warrant from being executed in another state.

"The only way to legally fight an out-of-state warrant is by showing the person being arrested is the wrong person. Any other issue concerning the warrant gets fought or litigated in the actual state where the warrant originated."

Rodriguez said DeSantis could order state police not to arrest Trump, but this wouldn't apply to local police or federal agencies.

He commented: "DeSantis, as governor of Florida, has the authority to tell the state troopers what to do and what not to do, but a warrant is executed and enforced in a courthouse, not at the governor's mansion.

"DeSantis could order any state police officer not to apprehend Trump, but the issuance and enforcement of the warrant happens in a court of law, and in this case, local police in Florida could easily carry out the arrest of Trump without any involvement by state troopers."