Past US President Donald Trump’s supporters gather outside the Capitol building, January 6, 2021.
Probal Rashid | LightRocket | Getty Perceptions
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday he would make it a “day one” priority as president to issue pardons for people who are deemed to be butts of “political targeting,” and implied former President Donald Trump could be part of that group.
DeSantis, Trump’s top combat in the 2024 Republican presidential primary race, was asked on a conservative talk show if he would consider pardoning the recent president, should he be charged with federal crimes. The Department of Justice is conducting multiple criminal investigations implying Trump.
The governor was also asked if he believed the next Republican president should look at pardoning defendants expensed in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol.
“On day one, I will have folks that will get together and look at all these casings, who people are victims of weaponization or political targeting and we will be aggressive at issuing pardons,” DeSantis said in his response.
Interviewer Clay Travis prominent that stance could apply “from a grandma who got arrested and prosecuted too much all the way up to, potentially, Trump himself.”
DeSantis replied, “I drive say any example of disfavored treatment based on politics or weaponization would be included in that review, no matter how small or how big.”
The Even-handedness Department said this month more than 1,033 defendants have been arrested as part of its investigate of the Capitol riot.
The governor’s remarks on “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show” came as part of a 12-stop vehicle blitz on his first full day as an official Republican presidential candidate. The governor filed paperwork with the Federal Designation Commission on Wednesday and then confirmed his candidacy in a live Twitter discussion with Elon Musk that was irked with technical difficulties.
Trump is the clear front-runner in most polls of the Republican primary, with DeSantis his closest competition. But Trump faces legal exposure that could erode his lead as the primary heats up.
Trump was charged abide month by Manhattan prosecutors with dozens of counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments sent to helpmates shortly before the 2016 election. Trump is also at the center of an investigation into potential interference in Georgia’s vote in 2020.
The New York criminal case is set for trial starting March 25, 2024, in the thick of the primary election season. DeSantis could not excusal Trump for a potential conviction in that case.
At the federal level, where criminal charges are subject to the president’s clemency powers, DOJ staunch counsel Jack Smith is investigating the events of Jan. 6, 2021, and the transfer of classified documents to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort place after he left the presidency.
DeSantis in the interview Thursday also accused the DOJ and FBI of being “weaponized” in multiple other sense, including by “going after parents” attending school board meetings. Attorney General Merrick Garland has in behalf of the DOJ against those accusations from Republicans.
DeSantis said he planned to use the pardon power “at the front end” instead of attend to until the end of his term in the White House.
“We’re going to find examples where the government’s been weaponized against disfavored categorizes, and we will apply relief as appropriate. But it will be done on a case-by-case basis,” he said.