Congressman Ron DeSantis from Florida says in an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation that the FBI has a “fresh start” following James Comey’s firing, and now it’s time President Donald Trump clean out the IRS, starting with Commissioner John Koskinen.
In this wide-ranging video interview, he spoke with passion, authority and principle on issues ranging from media bias, the IRS, James Comey’s testimony, terrorism, the Paris Treaty and Obamacare. A graduate of Harvard Law School and decorated veteran, DeSantis was elected to the House in 2012, ran for the Senate in Florida until Sen. Marco Rubio re-entered that race, and is now considering running for governor.
“Mr. President, you removed James Comey and we now have a fresh start at the FBI. Do the same at the IRS,” he says.
DeSantis escalated his repeated calls for Trump to fire IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, who stonewalled the congressional investigation into the IRS’s abuse of power against Obama’s political opponents. No one in Washington has been held accountable for targeting conservative groups, DeSantis says.
He is “stunned at how the [legacy] media has behaved since Donald Trump was elected.” The legacy media has “stepped up the antagonism,” suspended the normal journalistic judgment, and instead, are running stories to foster their own narratives, according to DeSantis.
“Not only have they decided to be antagonistic, but they plan to be the force that just drives him out of office,” the congressman says.
Asked about Washington culture, DeSantis begins by saying newcomers to government need to decide if “Washington is a swamp that needs to be drained or a hot tub, where you go in and enjoy the party?”
He joins other conservatives in calling for Congress to work through their August recess, rather than take a break when Trump’s legislative agenda and Senate confirmations seem stalled and obstructed by Democrats.
The Harvard lawyer and former military prosecutor is watching governors and mayors seemingly align with the Paris treaty that the president pulled the nation out of on June 2. If these governors and mayors think they can bind their citizens to the Paris agreement, DeSantis argues, “the Constitution specifically prohibits” states from entering into international alliances or treaties.
The chairman of the House Subcommittee on National Security supports Trump’s recognition of the ideological underpinnings of the violent Islamic terror we are watching escalate. He condemns Democrats who too often blame America for antagonizing terrorism and having few clear policy solutions to terrorism.
Explaining the embarrassing Republican disarray over repealing Obamacare, the congressman reveals, despite all the campaign rhetoric, “we don’t have a majority in the House and Senate who actually wanted to fully repeal it.” As the Republican Congress continues to battle over health policy and a replace bill, he believes the Democrat threats to use any House or Senate vote to replace Obamacare as a weapon will evaporate if health insurance starts to become more affordable because of the policies enacted in the coming consensus.
Towards the end of this interview, he says, “constitutional government is under a great deal of stress right now.” Citizens lose when, as has happened, the Congress, in avoiding hard decisions, cedes ambiguous power to the Executive branch, the administrative state, and judges.
For more on DeSantis, see his website, his Facebook page or follow him on Twitter @RepDeSantis. C-Span offers this page on his work too.
Videographer Sean Moody is credited with the video work for this piece.
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