DeSantis Responds With Cheap Shot When Asked If He Will Pardon Trump

Governor Ron DeSantis took a cheap shot at President Trump when he was asked by Megyn Kelly if he would pardon Trump if elected.

Political commentator Megyn Kelly asked DeSantis “Given your views on the weaponization of government, would you commit to pardoning him on any federal charges against him?”

DeSantis responded, “I don’t think it would be good for the country to have an almost 80-year-old former president go to prison.”

Kelly not satisfied with the answer continued “So that’s a yes?”

DeSantis continued to sidestep the question and answered “It just doesn’t seem like it would be a good thing. And I look at like, you know, Ford pardoned Nixon, took some heat for it, but at the end of the day, it’s like, do we wanna move forward as a country or do we want to be mired in these past controversies?”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis struggles to give definitive answer on whether he would pardon Donald Trump as President.

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Per Mediaite:

GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis took a jab at former President Donald Trump’s age when asked if he would consider pardoning the former president if he were to win the election.

The exchange took place on the Friday edition of SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Show where Kelly asked Florida’s governor about Trump’s third looming indictment stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into January 6th.

“Given your views on the weaponization of government, would you commit to pardoning him on any federal charges against him?” Kelly asked.

“What I’ve said is very simple. I’m gonna do what’s right for the country. I don’t think it would be good for the country to have an almost 80-year-old former president go to prison,” DeSantis said, noting Trump’s age, a full 33 years older than him at age 77.

“So that’s a yes?” Kelly pressed.

“It just doesn’t seem like it would be a good thing. And I look at like, you know, Ford pardoned Nixon, took some heat for it, but at the end of the day, it’s like, do we wanna move forward as a country or do we want to be mired in these past controversies? And I think the public wants a fresh start. I think they want somebody that’s gonna focus on their issues. We’ve had a lot that’s happened over the last five or six years, you know, I get that. But going forward, we’ve got all these issues that we’ve gotta deal with,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis, asked whether he’d pardon Trump on any federal charges against him, says in part:

“I'm going to do what's right for the country. I don't think it would be good for the country to have an almost 80 year old former president go to prison…”
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— Shelby Talcott (@ShelbyTalcott) July 28, 2023

Per The Hill:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said on the possibility of him issuing a pardon for former President Trump that he does not believe having “an almost 80-year-old former president” serve time in prison is in the country’s interest.

DeSantis said during an interview on Megyn Kelly’s podcast, looking at the example of then-President Ford pardoning former President Nixon over Nixon’s role in the Watergate scandal, that the move caused Ford to receive some backlash, but it allowed the country to move forward.

“I’m going to do what’s right for the country. I don’t think it would be good for the country to have an almost 80-year-old former president go to prison. It doesn’t seem like it would be a good thing,” he said.

The interview first aired on SiriusXM.

DeSantis said he believes the country wants a “fresh start,” and leaders need to focus on the issues facing people.

Previously when asked about Trump’s indictment in New York, DeSantis used his platform to attack Trump.

Take a look:

DeSantis on likely Trump indictment:

"Look, I don't know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair." pic.twitter.com/5hOJi78aKU

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) March 20, 2023