Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday he would not be involved in a what he called a “manufactured circus” over a possible indictment of former President Donald Trump by a New York prosecutor over allegations that Trump paid hush money to a porn actress before he was elected in 2016.
“I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair. I just I can’t speak to that,’’ DeSantis told reporters at a news conference in Panama City, but he instead accused Manhattan’s district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, of being funded by liberal billionaire George Soros and suggested that he was not aggressively pursuing routine prosecutions.
“...I have no interest in getting involved in some type of manufactured circus by some Soros DA,’’ he said, referring to Bragg. “He’s trying to do a political spectacle.”
The Florida governor who is expected to challenge Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, also suggested that if the former president, whose permanent residence in in Palm Beach, refuses to travel to New York, the governor will not be engaged in extradition proceedings.
“I’m not aware of anything,’’ he said.
The governor did use the moment to renew his criticism of what he called “Soros-funded prosecutors.”
“I’ve seen rumors swirl. I have not seen any facts yet, and so I don’t know what’s going to happen. But I do know this: The Manhattan district attorney is a Soros-funded prosecutor and so he like other Soros funded prosecutors, they weaponize their office to impose a political agenda on society at the expense of the rule of law and public safety,’’ DeSantis said, referring to Bragg.
A Manhattan grand jury is expected to indict Trump on the pending charges but the timing is unclear.
Trump predicted the indictment on his site, Truth Social on Saturday morning in a lengthy post that ended: “THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE AND FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”
