Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis accused government agencies Sunday of being “weaponized” against people they oppose as a response to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raid in Mar-a-Lago.
The governor claimed during Turning Point Action’s “United and Win” rally in Phoenix, Arizona that there is a double standard between the FBI’s treatment of Trump and former 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in handling their possession of classified information..
“These agencies have now been weaponized to be used against people the government doesn’t like,” DeSantis stated. “You look at the raid at Mar-a-Lago and I’m just trying to remember, maybe somebody here can remind me about when they did a search warrant at Hillary’s house in Chappaqua when she had a rogue server and she was laundering classified information.”
“I don’t remember them doing that. I do remember them manufacturing a false conspiracy theory about Russia collusion. I remember that. That was not true, that was an abuse of power,” he continued.
The governor called on Congress to “bring accountability” to the FBI and fellow agencies following their alleged inaction on left-wing attacks on the right, further alleging the agency targeted concerned parents at school board meetings and refusing to enforce a law intended to protect conservative Supreme Court justices and the attack on crisis pregnancy centers in the aftermath of the leaked ruling on the Dobbs v. Jackson case.
“They’re enforcing the law based on who they like and who they don’t like,” he continued. “That is not a republic, well, maybe it’s a banana republic when that happens. Why has this been able to happen?”
Former President Donald Trump sharply criticized the FBI in a lengthy statement Aug. 8 statement regarding the raid. (RELATED: DeSantis To Campaign For Trump-Endorsed Candidates In ‘United And Win’ Rally)
“It is prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024, especially based on recent polls, and who will likewise do anything to stop Republicans and Conservatives in the upcoming Midterm Elections,” the former president said.
Trump and DeSantis have continuously stood neck-in-neck in straw polls presenting the public’s preference to be the potential 2024 presidential candidate. DeSantis narrowly led Trump in a University of New Hampshire poll released in June, garnering 39% support and Trump with 37%.
The former president expressed confidence in a June 2022 interview with The New Yorker that he would beat DeSantis if he decides to run in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.