ATLANTA (AP) — Florida conservative Joe Gruters, a Donald Trump cheerleader dating back to the president's days as a reality TV star, is now the Republican National Committee chairman.
Having no opposition after being tapped by the president, Gruters' was elected Friday at the Republicans' summer meeting in Atlanta.
For Gruters, the vote completes a steady climb from county party leader into the top ranks of Trump’s second presidency. For Trump, Gruters’ ratification reflects his penchant for loyal lieutenants and evolution from a new president disinterested in party machinery to an Oval Office veteran intent on gripping all levers of power.
After the vote Friday, Gruters thanked Trump for choosing him and promised RNC members he would focus on “election integrity," expanding Republican voter registration and preventing internal party discord. Elections, Gruters said, are won by “whatever party does a better job of uniting the factions and bringing everybody together.”
Here is a look at Gruters’ history with Trump and Republicans and what that means as he becomes chairman.
Trump’s decade of domination over Republican politics is replete with rivals and critics who melted into the fold. Vice President JD Vance once compared Trump to Adolf Hitler, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio labeled Trump a “con artist” and mocked his manhood.
But Gruters was a true believer years before Trump launched his first campaign in 2015.
“Joe bet on the horse before the track was even built,” said Christian Ziegler, a former Florida Republican chair and friend of Gruters.
In 2012, Gruters led the Sarasota County GOP, and Republicans were nominating Mitt Romney for president at their convention in nearby Tampa, Florida.
Romney, then the kind of moderate Republican that is now almost extinct in public office, had embraced Trump even as the businessman falsely questioned then-President Barack Obama’s birthplace and citizenship. Still, Trump was widely considered a liability for Romney against Obama, and Romney’s team was circumspect about whether Trump would have a convention role. While Trump was eventually confirmed as a speaker, an approaching tropical storm shortened the convention schedule, and his slot was among the casualties.
Enter Gruters.
The eager Sarasotan had already picked Trump as his county party’s “Statesman of the Year,” slotting a dinner gala at Sarasota’s Ritz-Carlton hotel on convention eve with 1,000 guests. It cemented an enduring friendship.
Gruters’ support for Trump’s first presidential bid in 2015 stood out in Florida, given that Rubio and former Gov. Jeb Bush also were running.
In October, Gruters became co-chairman of Trump’s Florida campaign. His fellow chair was Susie Wiles, who is now Trump’s White House chief of staff. Bush didn’t make it to the Florida primary, and Trump trounced Rubio, ending the senator’s campaign.
Gruters was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2016 at the same time Trump won Florida’s electoral votes and the presidency. And Wiles, Gruters’ old Trump campaign partner, was the mastermind behind Florida Gov. DeSantis’ narrow 2018 victory.
So when it mattered, Gruters was well-positioned with a friend in the Oval Office and the governor’s office — buoyed by Wiles, who had distinguished herself as a Florida kingmaker.
All those powerful allies backed Gruters' successful bid for Florida GOP chairman in 2019.
Gruters and the party increased GOP registration across the state and helped push battleground Florida to a clearer conservative advantage. In 2020, as Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden flipped Sun Belt battlegrounds Arizona and Georgia, Trump won Florida comfortably.
That helped Gruters navigate Trump’s falsehoods that Biden’s national victory was rigged. Gruters chose his words carefully, stopping short of Trump’s election denialism yet ensuring he never drew the defeated president’s ire. Leaning on local results, Gruters called Florida the “gold standard.” He said there were “questions” about “shenanigans” in other states.
“Florida has been the center of everything,” said current state Chairman Evan Power. “Joe knows the successes and the lessons from Florida — he can bring that to the national level.”
Florida’s rightward shift yielded dominating reelection victories for DeSantis and Rubio in 2022. The win made DeSantis a presumed front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
A certain Palm Beach resident, however, was not finished.
As Trump built his third campaign, Wiles stuck with him — not DeSantis. The governor ultimately broke with Wiles and Gruters. Then Trump buried DeSantis, just as he’d crushed Bush and Rubio. DeSantis made peace with Trump, but not with Gruters, describing him as recently as last month as having a “linguine spine.”
Trump has cycled through multiple national GOP chairs. Reince Priebus in 2016 was the reluctant Trump backer who became the president’s chief of staff in 2017, only to be fired via social media post. Trump then turned to Ronna Romney McDaniel, Mitt’s niece. He eventually pushed out McDaniel and tapped North Carolina’s Michael Whatley as chairman, with daughter-in-law Lara Trump as family stand-in at party headquarters.
As chairman, Gruters will be a fundraising partner with the White House. The RNC is a key cog in joint party fundraising efforts that the president headlines.
Trump has always been his own primary messenger, but Gruters will be another notable face as the president approaches the 2026 midterms. That doesn’t just mean policy and branding but also the mechanics of elections. Gruters sidestepped Trump’s election denialism, but he’ll now be partly responsible for building teams of lawyers and poll watchers for a president who openly questions the efficacy of U.S. elections.
Beyond the midterms, Gruters will help set the presidential primary calendar, debate rules and other nuts and bolts of the 2028 campaign. While Trump is term-limited by the Constitution, he's made clear that he will not stay in the shadows as voters choose his successor. With Gruters, he has a direct line into that process.
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Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
FILE - Florida Sen. Joe Gruters watches during a legislative session April 30, 2021, at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
JERUSALEM (AP) — The White House says it is moving into the second phase of President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan – breathing new life into a proposal that aims to rebuild the war-ravaged area and reshape the wider Middle East.
Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, broke the news Wednesday in a post on X, saying the new phase will include the establishment of a transitional Palestinian governing committee and begin the complicated tasks of disarming Hamas and reconstruction.
But the announcement included few details about the new Palestinian committee or other key aspects of the plan, signaling just how much work lies ahead.
Trump's 20-point plan — which was approved by the U.N. Security Council — lays out an ambitious vision for ending Hamas’ rule in Gaza. If successful, it would see the rebuilding of a demilitarized Gaza under international supervision, the normalization of relations between Israel and the Arab world, and the creation of a possible pathway to Palestinian independence.
But if the deal stalls, Gaza could be trapped in an unstable limbo for years to come, with Hamas remaining in control of parts of the territory, Israel’s army enforcing an open-ended occupation, and its residents stuck homeless, unemployed, unable to travel abroad and dependent on international aid to stay alive.
“We’re going to do our best to try and see if we can work with the Palestinian people to try something new,” said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the evolving plan. “It will be hard to do,” he acknowledged.
Here is a closer look at the next stages of the ceasefire and the potential pitfalls.
The ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, halting two years of fighting between Israel and Hamas. It also included the release of all remaining hostages held in Gaza in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel.
The ceasefire has largely held, though both sides accuse each other of ongoing violations. Israeli fire has killed more than 400 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. Israel says it has targeted militants or responded to violations of the ceasefire, but the Palestinians say scores of civilians have been shot.
Palestinian militants, meanwhile, continue to hold the remains of the last hostage — an Israeli police officer killed in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear he is in no rush to move forward until the remains are returned.
Netanyahu appeared to play down Witkoff’s announcement as symbolic, calling the creation of a new Palestinian committee a “ declarative move.”
The new committee will consist of independent Palestinian experts who are to run Gaza’s daily affairs under American supervision.
Wednesday’s announcement didn't say who will serve on the committee. But the other mediators of the ceasefire — Egypt, Turkey and Qatar — said it would be led by Ali Shaath, an engineer and former deputy minister in the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
The U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said other names are expected in the next two days, and the committee will focus on attracting investment and improving the quality of life.
“This really will be a technocratic committee,” he said. “They seem to be a group that wants to have peace.”
The committee will report to the Board of Peace, a group of world leaders supervising the ceasefire and led by Trump. If the Palestinian committee is seen as just a façade, it risks not gaining public support.
Also, its exact powers remain unclear. Hamas has said it will dissolve its government once the committee takes office, but it has shown no signs that it will dismantle its military wing or security forces.
The board will oversee the ceasefire, reconstruction and an open-ended reform process by the Palestinian Authority, with the goal of one day allowing the internationally recognized authority to return to Gaza to govern.
The U.S. official said invitations for the board have been extended, but he declined to name any of the people expected to join. “It’s going to be a great list,” he said.
The key challenge will be forming a board that can work with Israel, Hamas, the mediators and international aid agencies.
One key appointment appears to have been made. Nickolay Mladenov, a former Bulgarian politician and U.N. Mideast envoy, is expected to serve as the board’s on-the-ground representative. He already has met with Netanyahu and Palestinian leaders in the occupied West Bank.
Trump's plan calls for the formation of an International Stabilization Force to maintain security and train Palestinian police to one day to take over. That force hasn't been formed yet, and a deployment date hasn't been announced.
The U.S. official insisted there is “great excitement” over the force and said there would be important announcements in the coming weeks.
But the force’s command structure and authorities remain unknown.
Hamas said it will oppose any attempts by the force to disarm it, and contributing nations may not to want to risk clashes with the militant group. Israel, meanwhile, is hesitant to trust an international body with its security needs.
Trump’s plan calls for an economic development outline to “rebuild and energize Gaza,” which suffered widespread destruction during the war and where most of the territory’s 2 million people are displaced and unemployed.
Still, no such plan has been announced, and it remains unclear who will pay for a process the U.N. estimates will cost $70 billion.
The ceasefire deal calls for Hamas to surrender its weapons under the supervision of international monitors. Militants who disarm will be granted amnesty and the option to leave Gaza.
However, Hamas, whose ideology is based on armed resistance against Israel, has said it won't disarm until Israel ends its occupation of Palestinian territories.
Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official, told The Associated Press last month that the group is open to “ freezing or storing” its weapons while a political process takes place, perhaps over many years. It is unclear whether that would be sufficient for Israel.
Failure to disarm Hamas could lead to renewed fighting with Israel and clashes with international troops, and could block progress on the rest of the peace plan.
Under the ceasefire, Israel is to withdraw from all of Gaza, with the exception of a small buffer zone along the border. At the moment, Israel retains control of just over half of Gaza.
The plan says further withdrawals will be based upon “standards, milestones and timeframes linked to demilitarization” to be negotiated by Israel, the U.S., the international force and other “guarantors.”
There are no firm timelines for further withdrawals, and Israel may refuse to pull back further.
The plan calls for an overhaul of the Palestinian Authority, which runs the West Bank, and the creation of conditions for a “credible pathway” to Palestinian statehood.
Palestinian officials say they have begun making reforms in key areas such as corruption, the education system and payments to families of prisoners convicted in attacks on Israelis.
Israel rejects the creation of a Palestinian state and opposes any role for the authority in postwar Gaza. Without a pathway to statehood, any Palestinian support for the new system could crumble. The plan also offers no clear benchmarks or timelines for the reform process.
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff delivers a speech upon the signing of the declaration on deploying post-ceasefire force in Ukraine during the 'Coalition of the Willing' summit on security guarantees for Ukraine, at the Elysee Palace in Paris Tuesday, Jan 6, 2026. (Ludovic Marin, Pool photo via AP)
Palestinians walk amid buildings destroyed by Israeli air and ground operations in Gaza City Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Makeshift tents shelter displaced Palestinians stand among buildings destroyed by Israeli air and ground operations in Gaza City Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
