Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis mentioned Thursday he would make it a “day one” precedence as president to challenge pardons for people who find themselves deemed to be victims of “political concentrating on” — and implied that former President Donald Trump might be a part of that group.

DeSantis, Trump’s prime rival within the 2024 Republican presidential major race, was requested on a conservative discuss present if he would contemplate pardoning the previous president, ought to he be charged with federal crimes. The Division of Justice is conducting a number of felony investigations involving Trump.

The governor was additionally requested if he believed the following Republican president ought to take a look at pardoning defendants charged in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol.

“On day one, I’ll have people that may get collectively and take a look at all these circumstances, who individuals are victims of weaponization or political concentrating on, and we will likely be aggressive at issuing pardons,” DeSantis mentioned in his response.

Interviewer Clay Travis famous that that stance may apply “from a grandma who received arrested and prosecuted an excessive amount of all the way in which as much as, doubtlessly, Trump himself.”

DeSantis replied, “I would say any instance of disfavored therapy primarily based on politics or weaponization would can be included in that overview, irrespective of how small or how massive.”

The Justice Division mentioned this month that greater than 1,033 defendants have been arrested as a part of its probe of the Capitol riot.

The governor’s remarks on “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Present” got here as a part of a 12-stop media blitz on his first full day as an official Republican presidential candidate. The governor filed paperwork with the Federal Election Fee on Wednesday after which confirmed his candidacy in a stay Twitter dialogue with Elon Musk that was plagued with technical difficulties.

Trump is the clear frontrunner in most polls of the Republican major, with DeSantis his closest competitor. However Trump faces authorized publicity that would erode his lead as the first heats up.

He was charged final month by Manhattan prosecutors with dozens of counts of falsifying enterprise information associated to hush cash funds despatched to girls shortly earlier than the 2016 election. Trump can be on the heart of an investigation into potential interference in Georgia’s election in 2020.

The New York felony case is about for trial beginning March 25, 2024, within the thick of the first election season. DeSantis couldn’t pardon Trump for a possible conviction in that case.

On the federal stage — the place felony expenses are topic to the president’s clemency powers — DOJ particular counsel Jack Smith is investigating the occasions of Jan. 6, 2021, and the switch of labeled paperwork to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort house after he left the presidency.

DeSantis within the interview Thursday additionally accused the DOJ and FBI of being “weaponized” in a number of different methods, together with by “going after mother and father” attending faculty board conferences. Garland has defended the DOJ towards these accusations from Republicans.

He mentioned he deliberate to make use of the pardon energy “on the entrance finish” as an alternative of ready till the tip of his time period within the White Home.

“We will discover examples the place the place authorities’s been weaponized towards disfavored teams, and we are going to apply reduction as applicable. However it will likely be performed on a case-by-case foundation,” he mentioned.