Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday said that former President Donald Trump should have “come out more forcefully” against the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but rejected the notion that Trump should face criminal charges for his behavior on that day.
DeSantis’ remarks at a press conference in Columbia, S.C. came shortly after Trump said that he had received a letter from Special Counsel Jack Smith informing him that he is a target of a grand jury investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection — a sign that he’s likely to be indicted in the probe.
Asked about Trump’s announcement, DeSantis initially railed against what he called the “weaponization” and “politicization” of federal agencies like the FBI and Justice Department. Pressed later on about the investigation, DeSantis said that Trump didn’t do enough to halt the insurrection.
“There’s a difference between being brought up on criminal charges and doing things,” DeSantis said. “Like, for example, I think it was shown that he was in the White House and didn’t do anything while things were going on. He should have come out more forcefully.”
“But to try to criminalize that,” DeSantis added, “that’s a different issue entirely.”
After losing his reelection bid to President Joe Biden in 2020, Trump refused to concede the race, spreading baseless claims that the election was rigged against him. As Congress met in early January 2021 to certify the results of the election, Trump encouraged his supporters to disrupt the procedures. A mob went on to storm the Capitol and temporarily halt the certification process.
Hundreds of people have faced charges in connection with the insurrection. Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to lead the probe of Trump’s involvement in the events of Jan. 6, has ramped up his investigation in recent weeks.
Trump’s claim that he is now a target of that investigation is a bombshell moment in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Trump is still the frontrunner in the GOP primary, but it remains unclear how his various legal entanglements, including criminal charges in other cases, will affect his political ambitions in the long term.
DeSantis is running in a distant second place behind Trump in most public polls, and, for now at least, is seen as the most likely alternative to Trump if the former president is forced out of the primary.
DeSantis has largely avoided criticizing Trump too directly over the Jan. 6 insurrection, which could potentially isolate a conservative GOP voter base that remains deeply loyal to the former president. During a campaign stop in New Hampshire last month, DeSantis said that he “didn’t enjoy seeing what happened” on Jan. 6, but insisted that Republicans couldn’t afford to “re-litigate the past.”
“I wasn’t anywhere near Washington that day. I have nothing to do with what happened that day,” he said. “Obviously, I didn’t enjoy seeing what happened, but we’ve got to go forward on this stuff.”
