In Miami, DeSantis supporters get campaign intel on how governor plans to beat Trump

MIAMI — A day after Ron DeSantis unveiled his presidential campaign, his top pollster met Thursday with a group of fundraisers at a Miami luxury hotel to outline exactly how they plan to knock down former President Donald Trump in the race for the GOP nomination.

The early morning presentation at the Four Seasons Hotel Miami was led by pollster Ryan Tyson and campaign staff. The team ran through data on how they could win the party’s nomination: namely, winning over Republican voters looking for an alternative to Trump and competing fiercely in the earliest primaries.

The briefing was closed to reporters, but multiple fundraisers remarked afterward that they left feeling convinced that it could be done.

Those in attendance included a mixture of political strategists and lobbyists, wealthy health care executives and developers, as well as some Florida politicians. The crowd included contingents from key early states like Nevada, as well as big-state heavyweights like California and Texas.

—Miami Herald

Nun accused of violating vow of chastity with priest appeals to Vatican

A Texas nun who accused the Fort Worth bishop of invading her privacy and violating civil law says the same bishop is refusing to allow her to choose her own representation in the church’s investigation.

The Rev. Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach has sent an appeal to the Vatican to challenge Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson on the matter, a civil attorney representing her said.

The Fort Worth diocese accused Gerlach of violating her vow of chastity with a priest, contending that she admitted to doing so. But Gerlach’s attorney, Matthew Bobo, said his client was questioned under heavy medication, including painkillers, following surgery. Gerlach, who uses a wheelchair and has a feeding tube, cannot remember what she admitted. “She did not have sex with a priest,” Bobo said.

...continued