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DeSantis accuses RNC of doing Trump’s ‘bidding’ with threats to punish 2024 candidates
The Republican National Committee (RNC) threatened to prevent GOP presidential candidates from taking part in future party-sanctioned debates if they engaged in an open-press event in Iowa next week, drawing backlash from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The threat came prior to an agreement that was announced Saturday between the RNC and organizers of the event to allow GOP candidates to participate.
Prior to the agreement over the format of the forum, in an Oct. 28 letter to the respective presidential campaigns the RNC Counsel’s Office said that any candidate who participates in the Nov. 17 Des Moines event would violate their pledge to not participate in non-RNC-sanctioned primary debates.
“It has come to the attention of the RNC Counsel’s Office that several Republican presidential candidates have been invited to participate in an open-press event in Iowa in November at which they would ‘gather around the table to have a moderated, friendly, and open discussion about the issues.’ In other words, a debate,” the RNC Counsel’s Office wrote in the letter, which was obtained by Fox News.
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“As a reminder, in accordance with RNC Rule 10(a)(11), each Republican presidential candidate participating in RNC-sanctioned primary debates has signed a pledge stating, in relevant part, that ‘if I participate in any debate that has not been sanctioned by the Republican National Committee, I will not be eligible to participate in any further Republican National Committee sanctioned debates,'” the counsel’s office added in the letter.
Should the candidate(s) choose to ignore the warning and participate in the event, or an event similar in nature, the counsel’s office said the candidate(s) said at the time that they “will be deemed to have violated this pledge and will be disqualified from taking part in any future RNC-sanctioned presidential primary debates.”
Five GOP candidates — former President Donald Trump, DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott — were invited to the Family Leader’s “Thanksgiving Family Forum.”
Organizers for the event told Fox News that three candidates — DeSantis, Ramaswamy, and Scott – have confirmed they will attend, with Haley expected to do the same.
The RNC’s former threat to bar Republican candidates from future debates if they take part in the event was met with frustration from DeSantis, who said he would participate in the event “no matter what.”
“I’m going to be there at The Family Leader. I think it’s an important part of this process,” DeSantis wrote in a post to X on Saturday. “There’s no way that should cause the RNC to penalize any candidate. I’ll be here no matter what happens.”
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Following the letter to Republican candidates, Family Leader President and CEO Bob Vander Plaats announced Saturday that he and the RNC had “agreed on the format” for the event.
“The Forum is NOT a debate,” he wrote in a post to X. “Thus, the RNC is giving a thumbs up for candidates to participate. Thanks to the RNC for facilitating a win/win for the process.”
Prior to announcing the agreement Saturday, Vander Plaats told the Des Moines Register that his organization would move forward with the planned event, saying “these forums are not debates.”
DeSantis also accused the RNC of doing Trump’s “bidding” by issuing the threat while speaking to reporters on Saturday, before the agreement was announced by Vander Plaats.
“Bob Vander Plaats is someone that’s been very outspoken, that Donald Trump is not the way forward for the party. And because of that, I think there’s been pressure from Trump’s camp on the RNC to try to do something to stop it,” DeSantis said. “But if I have an opportunity to speak to Iowans about issues that matter to them, I’m going to show up.”
DeSantis also questioned why the RNC would “be doing the bidding of somebody who not only didn’t show up to the last debate, but counter programed a rally.”
“I’ll be there one way or another, we’re going to be there spreading the message, answering the questions,” he added.
The event is set to feature presidential candidates sitting around a table to engage in conversation with Vander Plaats. In order to be invited to the forum, candidates needed to have an RCP polling average of 4.0 or more in either the national polls or the Iowa polls on November 1.
Vander Plaats is one of the major endorsements candidates are seeking. He’s expected to announce around Thanksgiving who he will support in the race.
Vander Plaats endorsed the last three Republican winners of the Iowa caucuses — Mike Huckabee in 2008, Rick Santorum in 2012 and Ted Cruz in 2016 — but none went on to win the GOP nomination.
Fox News Digital reached out to the campaigns of Ramaswamy, Haley, and Scott for comment.
Fox News’ Jessica Loker and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
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California city removes homeless in beautification before Biden’s summit with Chinese President Xi
San Francisco has undertaken a significant effort to glam up streets ahead of a vital U.S.-China summit next week, including the removal of homeless camps around the city.
“I know folks are saying, ‘Oh they’re just cleaning up this place because all those fancy leaders are coming to town.’ That’s true, because it’s true — but it’s also true for months and months and months before APEC [Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit], we’ve been having conversations,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday at the unveiling of a new program to plant trees in urban neighborhoods.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed said the conference could help the city with an anticipated $53 million injected into the economy, according to FOX affiliate KTVU, adding that “tourism is our business here in San Francisco.”
KTVU noted that the efforts to clean the city have created “noticeable” cleanliness to the streets but also far fewer homeless encampments on major thoroughfares.
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Marc Savino, who works in the city, told KTVU that “you just naturally start to wonder about houseless folks being displaced.”
Emails obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle show that the city’s superintendent of Street Environmental Services Christopher McDaniels was “concerned about historical encampments that are close to priority areas.”
Those areas include seven intersections in two neighborhoods that have long been the “epicenter” of the homeless crisis, according to the Chronicle. Another official, Deputy Director of Operations DiJaida Durden, said that the city needed to “stay on top of the growing encampments,” then asked, “Do we have a plan?”
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The Chronicle noted that the areas that Durden flagged have ended up “tent-free” just days ahead of the APEC summit.
President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jingping will meet next week during APEC in San Francisco for a much-anticipated face-to-face — the first since the two leaders met in Indonesia in November 2022.
The U.S. will hope to use the meeting to address growing tensions around Taiwan as well as dueling interests in Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle East, San Francisco will hope that the conference helps it shake loose of a sluggish post-pandemic recovery.
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The combination of factors, including the rise of work-from-home and the upcoming implementation of a state-wide rise in minimum wage for fast food workers, has made it difficult for the city to reach its previous levels of activity. The loss of tech commuters in particular has hampered recovery efforts, according to the New York Times.
Aaron Peskin, president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, noted that the conference presents a “huge opportunity” and that the city has been “planning this down to the gnat’s eyebrow.”
Peskin pointed to the influx of people and personnel during previous conferences at times of trouble for the city that helped kickstart economic activity, but to make that impression, the city has undertaken an incredible beautification project, which has included shifting the significant homeless population that has flooded into the city.
“They’ve cleared out the tents that were near the Moscone Center on Howard Street, which tells me the city had the capability to do this all along — instead they just do the bare minimum, community activist Ricci Lee Wynne told The New York Post.
“Once APEC is gone, police presence will start to simmer down again, the tents will return, and it will slowly flare up again,” Lee said. “What we need is a permanent solution.”
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Hundreds of pro-Palestine protesters march to Biden’s Delaware home as president returns from DC
President Biden is returning to his Delaware home on Saturday — only a short distance from hundreds of protestors accusing him of genocide.
Biden is returning to his residence in Wilmington after delivering a Veterans’ Day address as the “Delaware Palestine March” commences in the same area.
“President Biden, you can’t hide! We charge you with genocide!” the crowd chanted as protestors began gathering earlier this afternoon.
Protesters are pushing for Biden to push for a ceasefire in Gaza as Israel continues its ground invasion of Hamas-controlled territory.
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The U.S. says Israel has agreed to daily pauses in fighting to allow aid into Gaza, but both the U.S. and Israel oppose a cease-fire.
There remain roughly 240 Hamas hostages in Gaza, and 10 of them are believed to be Americans.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claims more than 10,300 Gazans have been killed in the fighting, though they do not distinguish between Palestinian civilians and Hamas terrorists.
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