In a recent interview, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis reportedly called former President Donald Trump’s claims that crime was allegedly on the rise in his state “delusional.”
In March, Trump attacked DeSantis on crime and COVID-19 in a TRUTH Social post.
“Florida’s crime rate is at a 50-year low. That’s just a fact, and it hit a 50-year low during my administration. It’s hit a 50-year low while crime has been spiking in other places around the country.” DeSantis said during an appearance on the ‘Ben Shapiro Show.’
“One of the main reasons families have moved to Florida since I’ve been governor is because of public safety, because they know we’re a law-and-order state. So that’s delusional to say that somehow Florida, you know, has bad crime. You can see that in the migration patterns. People are leaving high crime areas, and they’re coming here. When the Floyd riots were going on in Minneapolis, I called out the National Guard in Florida immediately. I had state law enforcement deployed. We worked with our local partners. And we said very clearly, ‘You’re not burning cities down here. We’ll put a stop to it if it happens.’ And sure enough, it didn’t end up happening.” He continued.
DeSantis said that Florida also passed laws to punish rioters harsher and stop local governments from cutting police spending.
DeSantis, on the other hand, pointed out that the Trump administration had authorized the First Step Act, or what he called the “jailbreak bill.” On the advice of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, Trump signed the bipartisan criminal justice bill in 2018 that increased early release programs and altered sentence guidelines.
The New York Times claims that DeSantis and his friends saw the measure as a political liability for Trump and intended to focus on it during the 2024 GOP primary race.
“It has allowed dangerous people out of prison who have now re-offended and really, really hurt a number of people. So one of the things that I want to do as president is go to Congress and seek the repeal of the First Step Act. If you are in jail, you should serve your time, and the idea that they’re releasing people who have not been rehabilitated early so that they can prey on people in our society is a huge, huge mistake.” DeSantis stated.
The Florida Governor also went on to blast Trump for his actions during the Covid-19 pandemic:
“I think the fact that President Trump gave Anthony Fauci a presidential commendation on Trump’s last day in office, that was gut punch to millions of people around this country who were harmed by the president’s lockdowns,” DeSantis said.
[READ MORE: DeSantis Hints He May Pardon Trump, January 6th Defendants During First Term]
