FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, said Thursday the federal government is "wielding power unevenly" and unfairly targeting the GOP through investigations like those into former President Donald Trump.
DeSantis visited the Pelican Yacht Club in Fort Pierce, where he signed the state's record $117 billion budget.
The governor was asked about the federal charges against Trump, who on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to dozens of felony counts accusing him of hoarding classified documents and refusing government demands to give them back.
"My mission is to bring accountability to politicize agencies like DOJ, FBI. We're gonna excise the political bias. And we are going to end the weaponization of the federal government," DeSantis said.
The FBI and Justice Department allege that Trump mishandled government secrets that, as commander-in-chief, he was entrusted to protect.
The indictment unsealed last week charged Trump with 37 felony counts — many under the Espionage Act — that accuse him of illegally storing classified documents in his bedroom, bathroom, shower, and other locations at his Mar-a-Lago property on Palm Beach and trying to hide them from the Justice Department as investigators demanded them back.
In a speech on Tuesday, Trump claimed the Presidential Records Act gave him the right to retain the documents he kept after his presidency.
"Today we witnessed the most evil and heinous abuse of power in the history of our country," Trump said.
DeSantis, Trump's top competitor in the 2024 Republican field for the White House, recently said during a GOP gathering in North Carolina that "if I would have taken classified (documents) to my apartment, I would have been court-martialed in a New York minute."
In Fort Pierce on Thursday, however, the governor vowed a "house cleaning on day one" of the Justice Department if he's elected president, including naming a new FBI director.
DeSantis cited previous federal investigations into Hillary Clinton and Hunter Biden, both Democrats, which he claimed were not as zealous as the probe into Trump.
"When you have different standards that are applied — not just in terms of legal standards, but the level of zealousness that you apply based on who the target is — I think that strikes at the heart of a free society," DeSantis said, adding that "accountability is gonna be the order of the day" if he's elected president.
While in Fort Pierce on Thursday, DeSantis signed a record $117 billion state budget, the largest spending plan in Florida history.
It includes more money for students and teachers — though critics said it’s still not enough compared to other states — along with additional funding for water quality, infrastructure, controversial legislation like universal school vouchers, migrant flights, the affordable housing program, and tax breaks for families.
