Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, in an interview airing Friday, hinted that if he's elected president, he'd pardon former President Donald Trump and said he wants to work with Congress to give Americans the right to move cases from Washington, D.C., to their home judicial district where there would be a "fairer jury pool."
"I don't think it would be good for the country to have an almost 80-year-old former president go to prison," DeSantis, who continues to hold the second-place spot behind Trump in polling ahead of the 2024 GOP presidential primary races, told Megyn Kelly for an interview airing Friday on her Sirius XM program, "The Megyn Kelly Show."
"I'm going to do what's right for the country," DeSantis also told her. "I think the country wants a fresh start."
Trump celebrated his 77th birthday in June, while DeSantis is 44.
He pointed out that former President Gerald Ford "took some heat" for pardoning Richard Nixon, but "at the end of the day, do we want to move forward as a country or do we want to be mired in these past controversies?"
DeSantis added that he thinks Americans want someone who will focus on their issues, but said that "we will wield the pardon power if normal Americans have been targeted unfairly" and if a "separate standard of justice has been applied."
"The flip side of that is people that are connected to the swamp are going to be held accountable," he said. "They are not going to get a lower standard of justice."
Trump has already been indicted in New York and Florida and faces potential indictments in Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, and DeSantis noted the "very liberal jury pool" hearing cases in the nation's capital.
"One of the things I want to do is work with Congress, is to give Americans the right to remove a case, if they’re charged in D.C. federally, remove it to their home judicial district because I think you’ll get a fairer jury pool," DeSantis said. "That’s a 95 percent very liberal jury pool, and in a politically charged case, I don’t think it’s going to be fair, and that’s an imbalance we have where the swamp protects its own. So people are effectively immune because they can be acquitted in front of that jury, but then if you’re challenging that swamp, man, they will nail you to the wall."
The governor further said he will pledge to end the weaponization of government, telling Kelly that "they have weaponized these agencies in ways that really hurt the cause of freedom."
And that's not just about "one person" when it comes to Trump, said DeSantis.
"Do we have a rule of law or is it just about wielding power against people you don't?" he said, adding that everything that happens in such cases is "seen through that prison of a DOJ and the FBI that have totally lost their way, and they've been weaponized against the public."
And if you're "not part of the swamp," DeSantis said, "They will nail you to the wall for jaywalking."
DeSantis also spoke out about his concerns on aging politicians, following up on concerns about President Joe Biden, who is 80 years old, and about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, 81, who this week appeared to freeze up while speaking with reporters.
"It used to not be that way," DeSantis said. "It used to be that you kind of serve in your prime and then pass the baton to the next generation. And I think this generation has not really been as willing to do that."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.