© Reuters. Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis speaks at the North Carolina Republican Convention in Greensboro, North Carolina, US June 9, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Drake
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By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Florida Governor Ron DeAntis on Friday criticized the impeachment of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, saying there was what he called a double standard in the impeachment.
US prosecutors unveiled a 37-count indictment against Trump on Friday, accusing the former president of risking some of the country’s most sensitive security secrets after he leaves office in 2021.
“I think there should be one standard of justice in this country,” DeSantis said in remarks Friday night at a party convention in Greensboro, North Carolina. He condemned what he called the “weaponization” of government agencies, though he did not mention Trump by name in his speech.
“Hillary has the emails,” DeSantis said. “Is there a different standard for a Democratic secretary of state versus a former Republican president?”
Hillary Clinton, who was Secretary of State under President Barack Obama, lost to Trump in the 2016 US presidential election. During the campaign, she faced questions about her handling of classified materials after it became public that she had used a private email server in her home for some of her correspondence.
An investigation by the US State Department found no evidence of intentional misuse of classified information by department employees, and the FBI said Clinton was “careless” but did not recommend criminal charges.
Trump faces 37 felony charges, including charges of unauthorized keeping classified documents and conspiracy to obstruct justice, after he left the White House in 2021, according to federal court documents released Friday.
Republicans have alleged that the investigation into Trump, who is running to oust Democratic President Joe Biden from the White House in 2024, is politically motivated. Biden and senior officials have said repeatedly that the Justice Department is acting independently.
“You can’t have one faction of society arming state power against factions that you don’t like. And that’s what we’ve seen,” said DeSantis, who ranks second to Trump in opinion polls for Profit. Republican nomination.