Washington: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has criticised the New York City prosecutor who is suspected of bringing a criminal case against Donald Trump while also taking a dig at the former leader by alluding to the "porn star hush money" that is the subject of the investigation.
Trump's statement over the weekend that he anticipates being arrested on Tuesday put pressure on DeSantis, who is currently Trump's main rival for the Republican Party's nomination for president in 2024.
After being questioned about the potential indictment by a reporter on Monday, he finally spoke up, claiming that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was one of the US prosecutors who was using his position to advance a leftist political agenda after being elected with billionaire backers' campaign contributions.
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"These Soros district attorneys are a menace to society, and I'm just glad that I'm the only governor in the country who's actually removed one from office during my tenure," said DeSantis, referencing his firing in January of a prosecutor in Tampa, Florida.
At the expense of the rule of law and public safety, he continued, Soros-supported DAs "weaponize their office to impose a political agenda on society."
DeSantis said he wouldn't get involved in the case "in any way," implying that he wouldn't try to help prevent the Florida resident's extradition to New York, while some notable Republicans, such as former vice president Mike Pence, rallied to Trump's side over his impending arrest.
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The governor said, "I have no idea what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some sort of alleged affair. I simply can't comment on that.
What I can say, however, is that if you have a prosecutor who chooses to go back many, many years in order to try to use something about hush-money payments to porn stars, he is choosing to ignore crimes that are occurring every single day in his jurisdiction. That is an illustration of using the office as a weapon to further political goals.
According to reports, Bragg wants to bring charges against Trump for paying porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet during the 2016 presidential campaign. The DA would have to show that the money was paid for the campaign alone, as opposed to other potential reasons like avoiding public humiliation or keeping Trump's wife from learning about an affair.
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Trump has repeatedly attacked DeSantis and dubbed him "Ron DeSanctimonious," but DeSantis has chosen not to respond in public. According to a Yahoo/YouGov poll released last month, DeSantis beat Trump in a head-to-head contest by a margin of 45% to 41%.