DeSantis says Trump ‘should have come out more forcefully’ on Jan. 6

Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis reacted to the news that former President Trump is the target of the Justice Department’s investigation into Jan. 6, saying the former president should have been more forceful on that day but did not necessarily commit any crimes.

“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,” DeSantis said at a press conference in Columbia, S.C., Tuesday. 

DeSantis said he had not gotten a chance to closely review the news, but went on to speak out against what he said was the weaponization of institutions like the Justice Department. 

“But to try to criminalize that, that’s a different issue entirely,” DeSantis said of Trump’s inaction on Jan. 6. “We want to be in a situation where you don’t have one side just constantly trying to put the other side in jail, and that unfortunately is what we’re seeing now.”

Trump said Tuesday that he has been alerted that he is a target of the Justice Department’s Jan. 6 investigation, which focuses on the former president’s attempts to remain in office following his loss in the 2020 presidential election. 

While it has been clear that Trump’s actions would be a major focus of the probe, the former president pointed out that receiving a target letter could mean he will soon face charges.

“Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden’s DOJ, sent a letter (again it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an arrest and indictment,” Trump said. 

The former president has already been charged with a crime twice this year. He was charged in Manhattan in April over an alleged hush money scheme to keep an affair hidden from the public. In June, he pleaded not guilty to federal charges over his handling of classified documents upon leaving office.

Despite his legal troubles, Trump has continued to dominate the GOP presidential primary field in the polls and rake in significant amounts of cash in fundraising. DeSantis, on the other hand, has continued to trail Trump in second place in the polls. 

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The Florida governor has been careful not to criticize Trump too harshly, particularly over his legal issues. Late last month, DeSantis dodged a question about Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. 

“I wasn’t anywhere near Washington that day. I have nothing to do with what happened that day,” he said when asked about the attack during a campaign event in New Hampshire.

“Obviously, I didn’t enjoy seeing, you know, what happened. But we gotta go forward on this stuff. We cannot be looking backwards and be mired in the past.”

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is also a contender in the crowded GOP primary field, hammered DeSantis over the comments.

“He wasn’t anywhere near Washington. Did he have a TV? Was he alive that day? Did he see what was going on? I mean, that’s one of the most ridiculous answers I’ve heard in this race so far,” Christie said on CNN.