DES MOINES, IOWA — Attending the Family Leadership Summit – billed as the Midwest’s largest gathering of Christians – presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis made several promises to voters in an interview with Tucker Carlson.
Although abortion was not a central topic at Friday’s summit, it was the first question the conservative commentator asked Florida’s governor.
“As president, I will be somebody who will use the bully pulpit to support governors like Kim Reynolds when she’s got a bill and other states as they advance the cause of life.”
EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY
DeSantis, the last Republican candidate to speak at the event, said it’s essential that presidents-elect be ready to nominate all the people they need in the executive branch on their first day in office.
“I believe Article Two of the Constitution means the president has the executive authority,” DeSantis said, referring to bureaucrats in Washington who are not being held accountable.
“I think you can fire them,” DeSantis said. “If we have an FBI agent going to harass a pro-life activist, like they did Mark Houck and send a SWAT team, I’d fire them immediately. When you have the FBI colluding with big tech to censor dissent, I would fire those people.”
Dismantling the “two-tiered” system of justice – including moving parts of the Department of Justice outside the Washington, D.C. area – is a promise DeSantis continues to make on the campaign trail.
“Part of what you need to do, if you have a two-tiered system of justice, you need to make sure if there’s some people that got away that shouldn’t have, they need to face the music,” DeSantis explained. “And if there are other people that are getting targeted through abuse of government, then there needs to be use of the pardon power.”
FOREIGN POLICY AND DECLASSIFICATION
Speaking about his time spent in Iraq as a Navy lawyer, DeSantis segued to the southern border and the masses of illegal aliens flooding the country, warning that fentanyl traffickers would end up “stone cold dead” if he were president.
On foreign policy and the war in Ukraine, DeSantis said a better strategy is needed. If the United States is going to support one country in a conflict – either through aid dollars or by sending troops – DeSantis said leaders making the decisions should have a concrete idea of what they’re trying to achieve.
While DeSantis agreed that the federal government’s role is to protect Americans from foreign threats, he said those in power have used classification to evade accountability.
“I am gonna go in and declassify or put as much stuff out as I can,” DeSantis said. “I think that you guys have a right to know things that happened 60, 70 years ago that the government’s kept under wraps.”
When asked if he thinks Biden will be the Democratic nominee, DeSantis said he doesn’t think the incumbent president is willing to step aside.
“I don’t think they can get him out of there,” DeSantis said. “On the other hand, I’m fully prepared to have a Florida v. California showdown and let the people choose.”
“I’m very confident that the freedom in Florida is what more people would choose rather than the public defecation on the streets of San Francisco,” DeSantis quipped.
Watch the full interview here:
