10 Things in Politics: The GOP forces behind DeSantis’ rise

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• Lightning strikes twice: Congrats to the Tampa Bay Lightning on their second straight Stanley Cup after shutting out the Montreal Canadiens to close out the series in five games.

Here's what we're talking about:

• The 13 powerful people helping Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida become the GOP's biggest rising star
• Haiti's police chief says 4 suspects in president's assassination have been killed
• Insider obtained Jeffrey Epstein's other little black book

One thing to watch for: The first lady Jill Biden plans to visit Georgia as part of a nationwide tour to boost COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

1. FLORIDA'S MAN: Gov. Ron DeSantis is the biggest rising star in Republican politics today. His reelection campaign in Florida could dim a 2024 presidential run or further fuel his rise.

My colleagues took a look at the 13 people most responsible for propelling DeSantis thus far:

• Phil Cox, who's leading DeSantis' reelection campaign: Cox is one of the GOP's best-known political consultants, with a powerful national profile that added further buzz to talk of a 2024 run.

• Helen Aguirre Ferré, the executive director of the Florida GOP: A Trump White House alumna, she's just one example of the staffers who have worked for both DeSantis and former President Donald Trump.
• Brian Ballard, the president of the top lobbying firm Ballard Partners: Ballard is considered Florida's most powerful Republican lobbyist, fundraiser, and political consultant. He opposed DeSantis during the 2018 GOP gubernatorial primary but now calls himself a "big fan" of the governor. Ballard quickly worked behind the scenes during the general election and later cochaired DeSantis' inaugural committee.

And don't underestimate the first lady Casey DeSantis: She's her husband's top confidante. "His wife is probably his No. 1 counsel," Rep. Brian Mast, a Republican of Florida, told Insider at the Capitol. She's a former TV journalist who hit airwaves in 2018 with an ad touting DeSantis' support for Trump that later went viral.

Check out the rest of the power players behind DeSantis here.

2. Four suspects in the Haitian president's assassination have been killed, police say: Haiti's police chief said the police killed the four suspects during a gun battle. Two other suspects were arrested, he said. A group of gunmen assassinated Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and wounded the first lady early Wednesday. Follow our live updates as the story continues to unfold.

3. Job openings hit a record high: US job openings in May rose to 9.21 million from 9.19 million, marking another record high. The increase in openings also came as hiring rebounded after dismal growth in April. Taken together, the data suggests the nationwide labor shortage grew somewhat less intense as the US entered summer. More on what experts are saying here.

4. Rescue operations have ceased in Surfside, Florida: The death toll of the partially collapsed condominium building now stands at 54, with 86 people potentially still missing, as officials say they will transition to recovery efforts after two weeks of searching, CNN reports. "While there seems to be no chance of finding life in the rubble, a miracle is still possible," Mayor Charles Burkett told reporters. More on what happens now.

5. Trump sues Facebook, Google, and Twitter: He filed class-action lawsuits against the tech giants and their executives Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and Sundar Pichai, alleging that they censor users. The former president and other Republicans have increasingly accused mainstream tech platforms of serving a liberal agenda and discriminating against conservative users, a belief that is not backed by evidence. More on the legal fight here.

6. Jeffrey Epstein's other little black book: Insider obtained a never-before-seen address book that appears to have belonged to Epstein in the '90s, connecting him to a new network of prominent financiers and political figures, including Melania Trump's best friend. Prominent entries not previously associated with Epstein include Morgan Fairchild, Suzanne Ircha, Carl Icahn, John A. Catsimatidis, Sandy Warner, and Martin Peretz.

Search through the rest of the 349 names.

7. Key fundraising group for GOP women calls Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert "carnival barkers": The Value In Electing Women Political Action Committee has supported every GOP woman serving in the US House and Senate, with the "intentional exception" of the two Republican freshmen, according to Julie Conway, VIEW PAC's executive director. Both Greene of Georgia and Boebert of Colorado have drawn attention as far-right conspiracy theorists and gun-rights enthusiasts.

8. Worldwide COVID-19 deaths have topped 4 million: "The number of lives lost around the world over the past year and a half is about equal to the population of Los Angeles or the nation of Georgia," the Associated Press reports. "By some estimates, it is roughly the number of people killed in battle in all of the world's wars since 1982."

9. Trump reportedly praised Hitler as doing "a lot of good things": The comment horrified his chief of staff at the time, John Kelly, according to a new book by the Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender. Trump was said to have made the comment during a tour of Europe to mark 100 years since the end of World War I. More on the book's reporting, which said Kelly was "stunned" after the president praised the German economy under Hitler.

10. Cars usually lose value fast, but now something weird is happening: Some used cars have steeper price tags than the same new ones. The pandemic has pushed people to hang on to their vehicles longer, so supply is tight at used-car dealerships. These 16 models are now worth more used than new.

Today's trivia question: The Liberty Bell's clapper has been immobilized since 1915. But on what occasion was the bell struck with the resulting sound broadcast throughout the nation?

Email your guess and a suggested question to me at [email protected].

• Yesterday's answer: It took an act of Congress and President Truman's signature to finally settle the dispute over the Hoover Dam's name in 1947. FDR's administration had previously refused to call it the Hoover Dam.