Ron DeSantis

Gov. Ron DeSantis will resist testifying in Andrew Warren’s legal challenge to the governor’s order suspending him as the elected state attorney for Hillsborough County, according to a pretrial report issued in the case.

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle released the report, a summary of where the case stands, on Tuesday. It sets deadlines for filing motions and completing depositions in the lawsuit but Hinkle hasn’t yet set a trial date.

Hurricane Ian strengthened to a Category 4 storm as it headed towards the US state of Florida on Wednesday, with forecasters warning of life-threatening storm surges and "devastating" winds after it reportedly killed two and left millions without power in Cuba.

As of 5 am (0900 GMT), mandatory evacuation orders had been issued in a dozen coastal Florida counties, with voluntary evacuation recommended in several others, according to the state's emergency officials.

On MSNBC Tuesday, former Republican strategist Rick Wilson tore into Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) for his chartered flights dumping migrants in the Northeast.

The entire saga, and its seven-figure price tag, are less defensible than ever with Hurricane Ian bearing down on his state, Wilson argued.

Hurricane Ian was upgraded to a Category 3 hurricane early Tuesday morning ahead of making landfall in western Cuba. This distinction means that the powerful storm is producing winds with speeds between 111 and 129 miles per hour, according to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Such speeds are strong enough to uproot trees and cause major infrastructure damage to buildings and roads, as well as electricity and water sources. And that's not all.

This article originally appeared at Salon.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is facing a scandal as Hurricane Ian approaches Florida.

"Gadsden County religious leaders are demanding a local commissioner and Gov. Ron DeSantis 'come forward' to address allegations that the commissioner resigned last Friday after a photo surfaced purportedly showing him wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe and hood at what could have been a Halloween party years earlier," the Tallahassee Democrat reported. "Jeffery Moore, a Havana resident and former Department of Revenue employee, was appointed by DeSantis in late July and abruptly resigned from the post in Florida’s only predominantly Black county after the photo began circulating in the local community."

Virginia GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin is hosting a two-day retreat with major donors, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

"The 'Red Vest Retreat' at Keswick Hall, a luxury resort outside Charlottesville, will take place Thursday and Friday, with panel discussions on topics like education, an address by former House speaker Newt Gingrich and a private dinner at a nearby residence, the people said. The title refers to the fleece vests that Youngkin regularly wears," the newspaper reported.

The National Hurricane Center reports that Ian is strengthening in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, raising concerns for residents that it could become a Category 4 storm, potentially overnight or early morning Wednesday.

Tuesday, Ian has been considered a Category 3 storm.

Residents of Florida's Gulf Coast on Tuesday boarded up their homes, packed up their vehicles and headed for higher ground as Hurricane Ian drew near, threatening to bring a deadly storm surge and more than a foot of rain to some areas.

Before heading to Florida, Hurricane Ian slammed into Cuba, forcing evacuations, cutting power to hundreds of thousands of people and swamping fishing villages.

The growing rivalry between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis is causing a split in the Republican Party, causing some to wonder if Trump still has the star power to go up against DeSantis' growing popularity.

“I’ve heard people say that Trump was John the Baptist paving the way for Jesus,” a senior official at a prominent conservative organization told CNN's Gabby Orr. “I’ve also heard concerns that DeSantis is a really smart operator who read the tea leaves and slid into this position at the right time, so he can’t necessarily be trusted.”

Georgia Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Herschel Walker distanced himself from former President Donald Trump.

Walker spoke to Fox News on Tuesday during a roundtable with Black business leaders in Georgia.

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said congressional Republicans had played themselves by refusing to join efforts to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who serves on the House select committee investigating the attack, recently confronted Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) for spreading debunked conspiracy theories accusing FBI agents of fomenting the riot, and the "Morning Joe" host said that was emblematic of the GOP's response to the insurrection.

In an op-ed for the New York Times, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) set the record straight with GOP lawmakers who are playing the 2nd Amendment card to justify the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Raskin, who taught constitutional law before entering Congress, began by calling out Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) before singling out Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) for what he called their championing of the "insurrectionist theory of the Second Amendment."