Florida's Governor isn't weighing in on Donald Trump being named a criminal target in a probe of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. But Ron DeSantis does say that the former President could have done more on that day.
"I think it was shown how he was in the White House and didn't do anything while things were going on, he should have come out more forcefully," the Governor said during a press conference in West Columbia, South Carolina.
The Governor's latest answer about the events in Washington that fateful day, when Trump supporters attempted to stop the certification of the Presidential Election, continues a series of recalibrations on the issue.
During a town hall in New Hampshire last month, DeSantis dodged an audience question about Trump's role.
"So I wasn't anywhere near Washington that day. I have nothing to do with what happened that day," DeSantis responded, refusing to directly engage the question. "Obviously, I didn't enjoy seeing, you know, what would happen, but we've got to go forward on this stuff."
The Governor has taken the Jan. 6 riot less than seriously in most comments he made about the event, a striking position given that Florida has passed its own anti-riot legislation. He has floated clemency for participants.
Responding to an interview question in May on "Clay and Buck," the Florida Governor opened the door to clemency actions on "Day 1" surrounding the attempt to halt the certification of the 2020 Presidential Election.
"Some of these cases, some people may have a technical violation of the law. But if there are three other people who did the same thing, but just in a context like Black Lives Matter, and they don't get prosecuted at all, that is uneven application of justice," DeSantis said. "And so we're going to find ways where that did not happen and then we will use the pardon power and I will do that at the front end."
Back in February, DeSantis likened protests at the Florida Capitol to the insurrection.
"It's interesting that if they're doing that from the Left, then the media says that's 'democracy in action.' They don't say it's an insurrection if you take over a Capitol because of that, but I think that's what it's getting to."
The Governor had commented on Jan. 6 previously, including last spring, when he said concern about the riots that delayed congressional certification of the 2020 Presidential Election was a "dead horse" and a "loser" with voters.
On the anniversary of the incident, he offered similar dismissals of the focus of media and Democrats, diminishing the insurrection.
"This is their Christmas," he said of the media and Democrats at a January 2022 news conference. He expanded on that take in a subsequent fundraising email, contending that "Jan. 6th is like Christmas for the out-of-touch D.C., New York political and media class."
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