DeSantis planning overhaul of DOJ and FBI if elected

Ron DeSantis is proposing an overhaul of the DOJ and FBI if he is elected
The proposal includes moving parts of the agencies out of Washington
A House committee is probing what it calls "weaponization" of the agencies

Updated: Jun 14, 2023 / 05:47 PM CDT

(NewsNation) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is proposing a wholesale overhaul of the Justice Department and the FBI if he is elected.

Part of his plan includes firing a lot of DOJ personnel and to take much of the DOJ and the FBI headquarters out of Washington. The plan was first reported by RealClearPolitics.

The campaign confirmed to NewsNation details of the plan, including excerpts of what he told advisers in a private strategy session.

“We’re not going to let all this power accumulate in Washington, we’re going to break up these agencies,” DeSantis said in the meeting, as reported by RealClearPolitics.

This proposal comes as the war on words has heated up against both DOJ and the FBI, but the plans go beyond general comments made by other 2024 presidential candidates after the indictment of Donald Trump.

According to Real Clear Politics, DeSantis, in the strategy session, vowed to order “some of the problematic components of the DOJ” be uprooted, reorganized, and then promptly “shipped to other parts of the country.”

The Justice Department has become the subject of Republican ire because of the investigation into and indictment of former President Donald Trump. A House committee is probing what it calls the “weaponization” of the DOJ and the FBI.