Former President Donald Trump met with Gov. Ron DeSantis over the weekend, and protesters clash with college leadership. 

Trump, DeSantis meet to make peace, talk fundraising for 2024 campaign

Former President Donald Trump met privately with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over the weekend, according to three people familiar with the discussion, marking a detente between the former rivals after a brutal primary contest marked by insults and bruised egos.

The meeting, which lasted three hours, was organized to help the men bury the hatchet and discuss potential joint fundraising efforts, according to one of the people. The governor, during the conversation, committed to helping Trump as he faces President Joe Biden in the general election, the person said.

The meeting, which was first reported by The Washington Post, was orchestrated by Florida real estate investor Steve Witkoff, who knows both men.

Witkoff did not immediately respond to a request for comment through his office.

DeSantis has a deep network of donors from his runs for governor and president. Though he endorsed Trump when he dropped his bid for the GOP nomination in a video after failing to gain traction, he has yet to campaign or fundraise on Trump's behalf.

The GOP primary was marked by a bitter rivalry between the two men, who had once been allies. Trump lambasted DeSantis as disloyal and nicknamed him Ron "DeSanctimonious," while DeSantis suggested Trump would lose again in November.

Biden team focuses on Florida abortion ban

Florida’s six-week abortion ban that was recently approved by the state’s Supreme Court, is set to take effect on Wednesday.

The new law overrides the state’s current 15-week ban.

This will likely affect thousands of women in and out of state seeking abortion care

There’s still the possibility that the restriction could change before November. An amendment to protect the right to an abortion up to the point of “viability” is on the 2024 ballot.

On that same day, Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to be in Jacksonville, where she will speak on reproductive rights. Her visit comes just a week after Biden made a stop in Tampa to speak on the same topic.

Biden said last week he believes Florida is in play. On top of the back-to-back visits by himself and Harris, his campaign recently announced the opening of a field office in the state.

“I don’t know if the Biden campaign thinks they’re really going to win Florida, but they are going to make Donald Trump contest it,” George Washington University Professor Todd Belt said.

Belt said part of the strategy may be to get the Trump campaign to spend its financial resources in Florida, diverting that money away from more competitive states.

According to the latest campaign finance reports, the Biden campaign had nearly $86 million in cash reserves on March 31, while the Trump campaign had $45 million.

“They know that the Trump campaign is really low on resources, particularly campaign finance, and it takes a lot of money to campaign in Florida. You have to buy a lot of media. And, if they can really make Donald Trump go down there, spend a lot of time and try to retake the state that he claims is his own now, it’s going to make it a real difficult time for him to contest the other swing states,” Belt said.

Florida has tilted red in recent years. There are now nearly 900,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats in the state.

But Democrats are hoping to harness political anger over Florida’s new abortion restrictions, as they have in other states.

The Florida Supreme Court recently ruled that a six-week abortion ban could go into effect. But the court also allowed an abortion rights initiative to appear on the November ballot, which could juice the turnout of Democratic voters.

Harris last traveled to Florida in March to advocate for gun violence prevention.

Her trip Wednesday will be her 12th to Florida since she was sworn in as vice president. 

College leadership clashes with protesters

Campus police at the University of South Florida arrested three people during a protest against the war in Gaza.

Officers reportedly began to make arrests after the group began putting up at least one tent near MLK Plaza.

Tents are allowed under certain conditions on campus, but university officials warned the students that they had not received the required permission in advance.

Protesters in the area indicated they did not obtain the required permission for the tents. The group moved across the street and held their rally.

The group’s leaders claim the university has gone to great lengths to prevent it from holding a protest on school grounds.

There was also a group of students who gathered to show support for Israel.

Meanwhile, students at Columbia University defied the 2 p.m. deadline to clear out of the encampment.

School officials had said that if they do not cooperate, they will face suspension, but no officials appeared to enter the encampment this afternoon.

A group of House Democrats is urging Columbia University’s board of trustees to step in and end the ongoing protest.

A group of 21 lawmakers, including Florida Reps. Jared Moskowitz, Debbie-Wasserman Shultz, and Darren Soto wrote a letter to Columbia.

“For the past week, this encampment has been the breeding ground for antisemitic attacks on Jewish students, including hate speech, harassment, intimidation, and even threats of violence,” the letter said. “The first Amendment guarantees freedom of speech and assembly, but not freedom to harass and intimidate other students.”

And Republican Sen. Rick Scott posted on X: “If Columbia’s officials don’t have the backbone to stop lawless anti-Semites from taking over their campus, then they should resign."