How a photo of DeSantis allegedly partying with high schoolers enflamed a bitter rivalry between Trump and the Florida governor

• Donald Trump launched a new attack on rumored 2024 rival Ron DeSantis.
• He shared an old picture that allegedly shows DeSantis partying with school pupils.

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday escalated his feud with potential 2024 rival Ron DeSantis, by accusing him of drinking alcohol with students when he was a high school teacher.

On his Truth Social page, Trump responded to a post that included a photo allegedly showing the the governor of Florida standing next to a group of female students, one of whom is holding a beer bottle.

"Here is Ron DeSanctimonious grooming high school girls with alcohol as a teacher," a caption on the user's post reads.

Trump, resharing the image, responded, "No way?" and, "That's not Ron, is it?"

The New York Times reported that the photo was taken after the 2001 to 2002 academic year that DeSantis spent as a teacher at Darlington School in Rome, Georgia.

The image has been in circulation since October 2021, when it was published by HillReporter who claimed it had been provided to them by an anonymous source.

"According to our whistleblower, he [DeSantis] had a reputation among students for being a young "hot teacher" who girls loved, and the girls in the photo are believed to have graduated in 2002, making them seniors at the time," reported the outlet.

Insider has contacted DeSantis' office for comment.

"I spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida and fighting against Joe Biden. I don't spend my time trying to smear other Republicans," DeSantis told reporters Wednesday when asked about Trump sharing the picture.

HillReporter's founders were Ed and Brian Krassenstein who made their names as part of the anti-Trump online "Resistance," making it a surprising source of material for Trump in seeking to smear his rival.

At the time the picture was taken, DeSantis would have been around 23. He taught at the school after earning his BA degree in political science and history from Yale, just before attending Harvard Law School.

The school is a preparatory boarding school where pupils graduate at 18. The state's legal drinking age is 21.

Insider has been unable to verify the authenticity of the image.

In a New York Times article in 2022, former pupils at the school recalled DeSantis partying with seniors.

"As an 18-year-old, I remember thinking, 'What are you doing here, dude?'" one former student, who was not named, told the outlet.

Two former pupils, both women, said they remembered DeSantis attending parties where alcohol was being consumed, which were held after graduation. "It was his first job out of Yale, he was cute. We didn't really think too much about it," one of the former students said.

The post Trump shared alludes to a far-right campaign to stoke opposition to LGBTQ education in classrooms by smearing teachers as "groomers", or pedophiles.

DeSantis has made opposition to education about race and LGBTQ issues one of his core themes as he stirs rumors of a 2024 bid. Last year, he signed a bill dubbed the "Don't say Gay" bill restricting discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in classrooms.

After a backlash to the bill, a DeSantis spokeswoman in March 2022 labelled critics "groomers."

Trump and DeSantis were formerly close allies, but Trump has aimed a steady flow of insults at the Florida governor, who many believe is his most credible rival for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.