'We're Going To Clean House': Ron DeSantis Vows Sweeping Reforms At The DOJ And FBI

Forbes Breaking News

At a campaign event in Indianola, Iowa, on Saturday, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) was asked about the Dept. of Justice and people's fears that it has been weaponized.

Transcript

00:00 I'm a volunteer for Look Ahead America, and I want to know what you're going to do for

00:07 the January 6th political prisoners, especially those who have not been charged with any violent

00:14 acts.

00:15 Yeah, so I think we have a weaponized DOJ.

00:17 I think you have that being used in ways where they go after people they don't like, in factions

00:23 of society they don't like.

00:25 And so what you do is you say, "We need one standard of justice in this country."

00:28 If you're going after somebody who was non-violent for "trespassing," but then you won't prosecute

00:36 a violent BLM rioter, well how do you explain that discrepancy?

00:41 So when I come in, we're going to do one standard of justice for everybody.

00:45 We'll use Article 2 power, including pardons and clemency as people were mistreated.

00:50 We're going to have people that can apply, and anyone that demonstrates that type of

00:56 mistreatment, we would want to make sure that we even the scales of justice up.

01:01 But beyond that, too, we're going to clean house at the DOJ and the FBI.

01:05 We will end the repression of the government.

01:06 Because it's wrong how they've treated, how they've abused their power, and it's something

01:16 that you need a president that understands how to deal with this, that's going to be

01:21 focused and disciplined, and that's going to be able to put the right people in place.

01:26 Because quite frankly, Donald Trump promised to drain the swamp.

01:30 He did not drain the swamp.

01:31 It is way worse today than it was even in 2016.

01:36 So we can't miss this time.

01:38 We've got to get the job done, because otherwise I don't think you're ever going to be able

01:42 to put that genie back in the bottle.

01:45 Yes, sir.

01:46 I'm glad to hear people start talking about our national debt.

01:51 $34 trillion.

01:52 I did the math.

01:53 Everybody here, everybody, even this little boy here, owes $100,000 to the federal government

02:00 to clear our debt.

02:01 We don't have the money.

02:03 If China and a couple of other countries start sending their T-bills in to get them reimbursed,

02:11 we're broke.

02:12 And we're going to have to print money to pay that debt, and that's going to make our

02:17 inflation worse than it is today.

02:19 Look, I think if you look at how did we get to this point, the first 200 years of our

02:27 country, I think we racked up about $5 or $6 trillion.

02:31 And then if you look just in the last 10 years, they've added about $15 trillion to the debt.

02:38 And that's Republicans and Democrats.

02:40 It's both parties.

02:41 Oh, yeah.

02:42 It's both parties.

02:43 Don't say that this is only Democrats.

02:44 Obama did a lot in eight years.

02:49 Trump did almost as much to the debt in four as Obama did in eight.

02:52 Biden's come in and done trillions and trillions of dollars.

02:56 And that's just been the case.

02:57 And so as president, you've got to be willing to veto spending that Congress is doing that's

03:02 excessive.

03:03 You've got to be willing to lean in against that.

03:06 I do think that one of the things that we'll do by bringing inflation down and the interest

03:10 rates down, it's going to make managing that debt a little easier because right now, servicing

03:15 the debt is very expensive because of the interest rates.

03:19 So we were at $200 billion a year to service the interest on the debt.

03:23 That's going to end up at a trillion dollars pretty soon on this current course.

03:27 That'll be more to service the debt than our entire defense budget.

03:31 And that's obviously something that's unsustainable.

03:34 So ultimately, though, we can sit here today if we had the budget and figure out a way

03:39 forward.

03:40 But Congress always seems to undo any type of responsibility in future years because

03:46 new people get elected.

03:47 They have different agendas.

03:48 And adding to debt is always the easiest thing politically to do.

03:53 So ultimately, I think what you need, you need term limits for members of Congress.

03:57 You need a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

04:04 I think those two, and a line item veto for the president.

04:08 You know, I have, as governor, I have a line item veto.

04:11 So I vetoed billions of dollars in wasteful spending.

04:15 We've been able to, even while cutting taxes, as I mentioned, pay down a massive amount

04:19 of our debt.

04:20 But when's the last time the federal government actually paid off any debt and reduced the

04:25 debt?

04:26 I don't think that's probably ever happened in our lifetimes.

04:27 So we've actually done that in Florida.

04:30 But having that ability to line item veto is important.

04:33 So if they put an omnibus bill on your desk as president, this massive bill, you can go

04:38 and just veto individual things out of there.

04:40 I mean, like, why are we sending money to promote transgenderism in Bangladesh, which

04:46 we are doing, by the way?

04:49 Why would we be doing that?

04:50 I mean, of course not.

04:51 So you line item it out.

04:52 You know, one thing I would line item out to defund is the United Nations.

04:57 I mean, I think it's a total disaster.

04:58 So these are things you could do.

05:04 So I think ultimately we need to push for those reforms.

05:07 We'll do it through the states under Article 5.

05:09 Florida's already certified a lot of this.

05:11 I think we can get some real traction.

05:15 But the way it is now, even if we made progress in one administration, I think the next one

05:21 will come in and undo it, most likely.

05:23 That's been the course for the last 30, 40 years.

05:25 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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