ORLANDO, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis is promising to “tear down” and rebuild the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI as his political rival former President Donald Trump faces criminal charges of mishandling classified information.
DeSantis has mostly kept a low profile this week and steered clear of Trump’s legal problems, focusing on what he considers the “weaponization” of federal law enforcement agencies for political purposes.
DeSantis’ campaign released a plan for reforming the FBI and DOJ, which was first reported by RealClearPolitics.
DeSantis wants to move the FBI’s headquarters out of Washington, D.C., fire “corrupt” federal personnel, go after “progressive prosecutors” and revoke the security clearances of more than 50 former senior intelligence officials, his campaign tweeted.
He promised to “tear down the DOJ and FBI and rebuild them from the ground up” if elected president.
Trump faces 37 felony counts related to accusations that he kept classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach and lied and schemed to thwart the government’s efforts to recover them. The documents involved matters of national security, such as the nuclear capabilities of a foreign country, according to the indictment.
Trump also is facing criminal charges in Manhattan over accusations that he arranged a $130,000 hush-money payment to an porn film actress before the 2016 presidential election.
DeSantis has avoided addressing the specifics of the Trump’s latest indictment. Speaking to Republicans in North Carolina on Friday, he instead focused on Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of state.
“As a naval officer, if I would have taken classified (documents) to my apartment, I would have been court-martialed in a New York minute,” DeSantis said of the decision not to charge Clinton.
He added, “Is there a different standard for a Democrat secretary of state versus a former Republican president? I think there needs to be one standard of justice in this country. Let’s enforce it on everybody and make sure we all know the rules.”
Prosecutors allege Trump knew he had classified records and blocked efforts to recover them. In the Clinton case, then-FBI Director James Comey said Clinton was “extremely careless” in handling classified information, but investigators found no evidence she intended to break the law.
Trump pleaded not guilty to the federal charges on Tuesday and then campaigned at the iconic Miami Cuban restaurant Versailles and spoke to supporters at his golf club in New Jersey.
As the nation’s eyes turned to Trump, DeSantis appeared to take a break from the campaign trail. He signed five bills, including one that banned direct-to-consumer auto sales, and made a judicial appointment on Tuesday.
No events were scheduled on Wednesday, according to his campaign website.
Trailing in the polls, DeSantis is trying to position himself to the right of Trump. DeSantis and his allies have criticized Trump on his COVID-19 policy and embrace of red-flag laws that allow law enforcement to temporarily seize guns from people suspected of being a danger to themselves and others. DeSantis defended a six-week abortion ban that Trump suggested was too extreme.
On Monday, DeSantis told the conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt that he didn’t think Trump’s three U.S. Supreme Court picks were at the “same level” of conservative justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito .
“They are the gold standard, and so my justices will be along the lines of a Sam Alito and a Clarence Thomas,” DeSantis told Hewitt.
Polling indicates Republican voters aren’t changing their view of Trump because of the indictment. In an ABC/ Ipsos poll, 80% of Republicans surveyed said charges were politically motivated while only 9% said the charges weren’t political.
A Civiqs/Daily Kos poll released Wednesday showed Trump with a 20-point advantage over DeSantis in a one-on-one matchup among GOP primary voters. Respondents also said they believed Trump had a better chance of defeating Biden than DeSantis by an 18-point margin.
A Morning Consult poll released Wednesday also showed Trump’s lead over DeSantis grew 4 points since last week, with the former president getting the support of 59% of GOP primary voters to DeSantis’ 19%, almost a new low for the weekly poll.
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