- Palm Beach County's top prosecutor said the governor couldn't block extradition if Trump were indicted.
- Gov.
Ron DeSantis ' "power to stop an extradition is really nonexistent," Dave Aronberg told CNN. - Politico reported last week that Palm Beach was preparing for an extradition request from New York.
Palm Beach County's top prosecutor threw cold water on the suggestion that Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida could unilaterally block former
Politico Playbook first reported on Thursday that officials in Palm Beach, where Trump resides at his Mar-a-Lago resort, were drawing up "contingency plans" in the event that prosecutors in New York charge Trump with a crime and move to extradite him for prosecution.
State Attorney Dave Aronberg told "CNN Newsroom" on Sunday that he hadn't had any conversations with his counterparts in New York about an extradition plan.
"I can clear that up because I'm the state attorney here in Palm Beach County, and we have not had conversations with prosecutors in New York about this. The story that you saw was informal conversations with the clerk of courts and other local officials in case an indictment happens," Aronberg said.
Aronberg also pushed back on Politico's reporting that DeSantis could intervene and prevent Trump from getting extradited to New York.
"So that's a conversation we're having: What is the governor's power? And the governor's power to stop an extradition is really nonexistent," Aronberg said. "He can try to delay it, he can send it to a committee and do research about it, but his role is really ministerial, and ultimately the state of New York can go to court and get an order to extradite the former president. But DeSantis could delay matters."
-PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) May 17, 2021
The Manhattan district attorney's investigation into Trump is examining whether the Trump Organization violated state laws when it facilitated hush-money payments to the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, who said she had an affair with Trump in 2006. According to legal filings, state prosecutors suspect the Trump Organization and members of Trump's family may have engaged in financial fraud to cover up the purpose of the payments.
The former president's tax returns are central to the case, and Manhattan prosecutors secured a major victory earlier this year when the Supreme Court cleared the way for them to obtain the documents.
Investigators are also scrutinizing Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization's longtime chief financial officer. Weisselberg's former daughter-in-law, Jennifer, told Insider's Jacob Shamsian last month that she'd cooperated extensively with the investigation and still had "several boxes of documents" to give prosecutors.
A grand jury is also reportedly seeking to secure Allen Weisselberg's cooperation.
In March, legal experts said it looked as if Manhattan prosecutors were nearing the end of their investigation. A former top deputy in District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.'s office told Insider that Vance would likely want to make charging decisions before his retirement in December.
There might be a small window of time where Trump could be extradited and tried. As Insider's Tom LoBianco reported in late April, Trump is expected to relocate to his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, during the summer when Mar-a-Lago is closed. Trump's club in Bedminster has been a hotbed for GOP campaign fundraising.
Insider previously reported that Trump's team was far more concerned about state-level investigations than an ongoing Justice Department investigation into his role in the Capitol insurrection on January 6. Trump also faces legal jeopardy from a separate investigation in Atlanta focused on his efforts to manipulate the election results in Georgia.
News of the Atlanta investigation surfaced after The Washington Post reported in January that Trump had pleaded with Georgia's secretary of state in a phone call to "find" enough votes to help him secure a win in the state.