DeSantis calls to ‘clean house’ at ‘weaponized’ agencies over Trump-Russia ‘conspiracy theory’

WASHINGTON, D.C. (FLV) – Gov. Ron DeSantis reacted to the release of the long-anticipated “Durham report” on the FBI’s investigation into claims of collusion between former President Donald Trump and Russia in the 2016 election.

Special Counsel John Durham’s report was presented to Congress Monday.

It found that the FBI departed from previous habits of holding a higher threshold for evidence before launching an investigation – such as instances with Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

“The Durham Report confirmed what we already knew: weaponized federal agencies manufactured a false conspiracy theory about Trump-Russia collusion,” DeSantis said. “It reminds us of the need to clean house at these agencies, as they’ve never been held accountable for this egregious abuse of power.”

The report described the FBI’s “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation approach as “markedly different” from its behavior towards Clinton’s campaign.

It found that the FBI ignored reports it received that “a trusted foreign source” said the Clinton campaign planned to “vilify Trump by tying him to Vladimir Putin so as to divert attention from her own concerns relating to her use of a private email server.”

Then-Rep. DeSantis of Florida was an original defender of Trump during the Trump-Russia narrative era. He filed an amendment in August 2017 to end the probe into the false claims of Trump’s campaign having conspired with Russia to defeat Clinton.

DeSantis called Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation a “fishing expedition” at the time.

The then-Florida congressman was at odds with prior words from then-Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan.

“I think the best advice is to let Robert Mueller do his job,” Ryan said a couple months prior, in June 2017.

DeSantis’ comments on his campaign account come as speculation of a 2024 run continue to swirl, now with his press secretary, Bryan Griffin, moving to the governor’s political operation.

The governor’s political staff are also reportedly moving out of the Republican Party of Florida’s offices to a new location.

He has previously indicated a 2024 announcement could come after the Florida Legislature wraps up its session, which occurred earlier in May.

Now, DeSantis has several additional legislative priories to sign, including bills on transgender operations for minors, “adult live performances,” along with approving the state budget.

He has also previously said as he continues to sign GOP-prioritized bills into law, he does not want to “short-circuit” the legislature’s accomplishments by announcing a 2024 presidential bid.

“I’m not going to short-circuit any of the good work that we’ve done,” he said. “I mean, we want to make sure that we’re thorough about doing that.”