by David Lindfield
Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has fired back at Barack Obama after the ex-POTUS accused President Donald Trump of weaponizing the Department of Justice (DOJ) against his political opponents.
DeSantis responded to Obama with a brutal one-line reminder about the Russia collusion hoax that dominated President Trump’s first term.
“The Russia collusion hoax would like a word,” DeSantis posted on X.
The sharp response came after Obama appeared on CBS and warned that the White House should not influence prosecutions through the Justice Department
Obama Warns About “Politicization” of DOJ
During an interview with Stephen Colbert, Obama claimed there were longstanding norms limiting presidential influence over the Department of Justice that he said need to be restored and formally codified.
“The White House shouldn’t be able to direct the attorney general to go around prosecuting whoever the president wants prosecuted,” Obama said.
“The awesome power of the state, you can’t have a situation where whoever is in charge of the government starts using that to go after their political enemies or reward their friends,” he continued.
Obama also argued that the DOJ should function independently from the president.
“The idea is that the attorney general is the people’s lawyer and not the president’s consigliere,” Obama said.
He went further, calling the politicization of the criminal justice system an existential threat to the country.
“We can survive a lot — bad policy, funky elections, there’s a bunch of stuff that we can overcome,” Obama said.