What Roger Stone wants from Ron DeSantis: Total support for Donald Trump for 2024

Roger Stone, Trump’s longtime ally and confidante, says Gov. Ron DeSantis must audit the 2020 election in Florida — or Stone himself could run to become Florida’s governor. He says he also wants DeSantis to step up support for Donald Trump, who he considers the “strongest candidate” for president in 2024.

Stone, of Fort Lauderdale, has known Trump for decades, serving as his informal adviser for much of the 2016 campaign. “If Florida governor Ron DeSantis does not order an audit of the 2020 election to expose the fact that there are over 1 million phantom voters on the Florida voter rolls in the Sunshine state I may be forced to seek the Libertarian party nomination for governor Florida in 2022 #ByeRon,” Stone posted on the social media platform Gab on Sunday.

Stone on Sunday challenged DeSantis to scrutinize the last presidential election — in a state that former President Trump won and where election officials have asserted no fraud happened.

DeSantis isn’t doing enough to help Trump, Stone told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Monday. “I would also like the governor to declare his support for a 2024 presidential bid by President Trump which he has not done,” Stone said via text message. “I cannot speculate as to why the governor has not urged the former president to run but I feel strongly that President Trump would be the strongest candidate.”

A spokeswoman for DeSantis resent a statement from the Secretary of State that said the 2020 election “was accurate, transparent, and conducted in compliance with Florida law. Florida has already conducted both pre- and post-elections audits, and we are confident in the security and integrity of our 2020 election results.”

Press Secretary Christina Pushaw also said the office would not comment on political or campaign matters when asked about Stone’s complaint about the lack of an endorsement for Trump. “Governor DeSantis is focused on doing the best he can for Floridians as governor of our state,” she said.

DeSantis recently told Fox News that he was running for re-election as governor next year — although he hasn’t filed as of Monday.

Stone wrote that he had “no allusions about being elected governor but I may have to take action so that voters who share my views should have an alternative in the next election.”

He said while he applauded “the governor’s efforts regarding Internet censorship” referring to a bill that sought to punish social media platforms that remove “conservative ideas” from their sites, he said the reforms are still “deeply flawed and lack any teeth.”