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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been mocked online after he said he would fire Special Counsel Jack Smith from the Department of Justice.
DeSantis is running to become the Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election, but he is trailing in the polls behind favorite Donald Trump. Average polling taken by FiveThirtyEight has Trump ahead at over 61 percent, with DeSantis at 11 percent.
The former president has a number of legal issues, in which he denies wrongdoing, that could potentially scupper his plans for a return to the Oval Office.
However, the huge gap between him and his Floridian rival led to mocking comments after DeSantis told Fox what he would do on his first day in office. Newsweek has approached DeSantis' and Smith's respective offices for comment on Saturday.
"After you win the election: start holding these people accountable who have weaponized the legal system to go after their political enemies," DeSantis said to Fox News' Jason Chaffetz. "That starts with day one, firing somebody like Jack Smith."
"Day one of what?" left-wing political action committee the Meidas Touch wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "I don't think Jack Smith needs to worry about Ron DeSantis for a moment," another account posted.
A third commented: "Jack Smith DOESN'T have a thing to worry about! Cocky @RonDeSantis tanked his own political future!
The Florida governor said that he believes a relatively successful performance in his state for the Republicans in last year's November midterms means he would be an effective candidate in a runoff against Democratic President Joe Biden.
"I think that a guy like me as the nominee will be able to keep the focus on Biden, keep the focus on the Democrats' failures," DeSantis said.
Smith has brought two criminal indictments against Trump, which the former president says he is innocent of. In DeSantis' home state, Trump is charged mishandling classified documents.
The charges are:
- Altering, destroying, mutilating or concealing an object: one count
- Conspiracy to obstruct justice: one count
- Concealing a document in a federal investigation: one count
- Scheme to conceal: one count
- False statements and representations: one count
- Withholding a document or record: one count
- Corruptly concealing a document or record: one count
- Corruptly altering, destroying, mutilating or concealing a document, record or other object: one count
- Retention of national defense information: 32 counts
In Washington, D.C., Trump was indicted on charges relating to his alleged involvement in the January 6, 2021 riots at the Capitol.
The former president is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. Trump denies all charges and says they are politically motivated.
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About the writer
Benjamin Lynch is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is U.S. politics and national affairs and he ... Read more