Florida GOP governor Ron DeSantis has plans to tear down and rebuild the Department of Justice and the FBI, even removing large parts of them and relocating FBI headquarters out of Washington D.C.
DeSantis has stated he will replace much of the personnel at the DOJ and its subsidiaries, and implement a “disciplined” and “relentless” strategy so the Justice Department resembles what the “Founding Fathers envisioned.”
“We’re not going to let all this power accumulate in Washington, we’re going to break up these agencies,” DeSantis said over the weekend, according to Real Clear Politics.
“We’ve seen throughout this country that the DOJ and the FBI are controlled by one faction of our society,” DeSantis said, noting that the federal agencies were “going after pro-life activists,” investigating parents at school board meetings “who are concerned about things like critical race theory and forcing kids to wear masks,” and “colluding with tech companies to censor information such as what they did with the 2020 election.”
Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Chip Roy (R-TX), both staunch conservatives, have discussed with DeSantis changes that need to be made, along with former assistant attorney general Steven Bradbury and Victor Davis Hanson of the Hoover Institution. Bradbury has urged DeSantis to use his prospective executive power to implement changes without waiting for Congress. He asserted that DeSantis could “relocate the FBI headquarters” himself and then consolidate the FBI’s general counsel, public affairs, and government relations offices with the DOJ, so the FBI’s capacity to interfere political affairs would be limited while it would “beef up and emphasize the field offices.”
“If you’re performing poorly, you should be fired,” DeSantis said, limning his perspective that it didn’t matter what the level of the position was when firing someone. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a bureaucrat, or if you’re a political appointee.” He stated he would fire any DOJ employee working on a grand jury investigation leaking information to the press. “If they’re leaking,” DeSantis said, “we’re going to fire people.”
DeSantis has said he would fire FBI director Christopher Wray if elected. He also said he would direct the DOJ to target and hold “accountable” progressive prosecutors around the country who “are not prosecuting cases against violent criminals.” He has not been reticent to implement a high-level firing; last year he sent law enforcement officials to remove woke State Attorney Andrew Warren of the 13th Judicial Circuit, who was backed by Democrat mega donor George Soros, from office.
“State Attorneys have a duty to prosecute crimes as defined in Florida law, not to pick and choose which laws to enforce based on his personal agenda,” DeSantis said, noting that he had the state constitutional authority to fire Warren, said in a statement. He told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that “Soros prosecutors around the country” had “basically take it upon themselves to determine which laws should be followed, and which laws should not be followed.”
DeSantis would revoke the security clearances of some former intelligence officials, mentioning the scores of former senior intelligence officials who signed a public letter saying the Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation. He called the letter “a lie.”
DeSantis led the effort, with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), to impeach then-IRS Commissioner John Koskinen for the IRS’ targeting of Tea Party groups, but other Republicans helped derail the effort.
Related: DeSantis Sends Police To Remove Woke Soros Prosecutor From Office For Failing To Enforce Laws