DeSantis says DOJ became ‘left’s little playpen,’ vows to axe FBI’s Wray on first day as president

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is giving a glimpse into how he would reshape the federal government if elected president, vowing to force out FBI Director Christopher Wray on his first day in office and “clean house“ inside the Justice Department and the federal health and science agencies he says mishandled the coronavirus pandemic.

“We're going to have a reckoning for CDC, NIH, and the FDA,” the Republican governor said in a wide-ranging interview with Just the News set to air Thursday night on the “Just the News, No Noise” television show on Real America’s Voice.

“They're approving, on an emergency basis, MRNA COVID jabs for six-month-old babies,” he also said. “There was no data to support that. There was no benefit shown to that. … They were pursuing a political agenda, and the politics and the narrative were more important to them than the evidence and the science."

DeSantis said he was also intent on breaking the symbiotic relationship between big drug companies and federal regulators, which he said was creating conflicts of interest dangerous to patients.

“The power of the pharmaceutical companies that they exert over the healthcare system and over physicians is huge,” he said. “It’s totally unhealthy for our society, how they basically control the FDA because there's a revolving door, how some of these people in the bureaucracy get royalties for different things. It is a swamp.”

DeSantis said, however, he would start with a “housecleaning” at the Justice Department, including axing Wray as the FBI chief on his first day, even though Wray has a 10-year term that stretches to 2027.

“I’m going to go in, new FBI director on Day One, clean out the Department of Justice,” he said.

“You’ll ask Chris Wray to resign,” he was asked.

“Yeah, of course. I mean, we need to go in, we need a house cleaning,” he answered.

DeSantis also said he was looking for a unique quality for the next attorney general.

“You got to have a backbone," he said. "That is the most important thing because when you go in there, the Department of Justice has become the left's little playpen. They think they own it, you know, 99% donations to Democrats, and they obviously weaponize that in ways that give their sides special grace and weaponize it against people they disagree with.

“So if you're going in there, and you're cleaning house, you are going to be pilloried by CNN, the New York Times and Washington Post. So you have to be somebody who relishes that and knows that when you're getting attacked, that just means you're over the target,” he continued. “… If you put someone in that position who wants to be liked by official Washington, they are going to fail because the only way to be liked by official Washington is to not do the things that we all naturally all know need to be done.”

DeSantis also gave a succinct answer in explaining why he laid off a third of his campaign staff and retooled his campaign in the face of sagging poll numbers.

He said his goal was to focus more of his resources on the early states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

“Well, it's really about just focusing on what matters, which is these early states at the end of the day,” DeSantis said. “I've been saying publicly, this isn't a national campaign. It's a state by state. And so that's the commander's intent. And our organization needs to reflect my intent. And so now we're doing that. 

“We're going to be lighter at the headquarters, but we're going to start adding more people in the early stage fields,” he said.

DeSantis also laid out his emerging economic policy, previewing many of the ideas he plans to unveil in the coming weeks to supplant China’s economic challenge, solve supply chain woes in America and rewire the Federal Reserve.

You can see that by tuning in at 6 p.m. ET Thursday to the “Just the News, No Noise” television show on real America’s Voice.