Nikki Fried Blasts Gov. DeSantis for Criticism of FBI Trump Raid

Fried denounced the governor’s “hypocrisy” for calling the search a “weaponization of federal agencies against the regime’s political opponents,” and pointed to the governor’s alleged abuse of his executive power.

After Gov. Ron DeSantis blasted the FBI for executing a search warrant of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence on Monday, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried had some choice words for the Republican incumbent.

Standing in front of the governor’s mansion, Fried denounced DeSantis’ “hypocrisy” for calling the search a “weaponization of federal agencies against the Regime’s political opponents” in a tweet he put out Monday evening.

In response, Fried shot back that DeSantis himself last week abused his executive power by suspending from office 13th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Andrew Warren, the chief prosecutor for Hillsborough County.

DeSantis’ War on ‘Woke’

DeSantis went as far as calling Warren “woke” for opposing GOP-backed legislation targeting transgender medical care, as well as stating that he would not pursue criminal charges against women seeking abortions after the US Supreme Court’s decision to undo Roe v. Wade.

“Five days ago, my heart also sank when I heard the news of Andrew Warren’s suspension, a politically motivated overreach of executive power by our governor. Now he’s accusing the FBI of the same thing. The hypocrisy is astounding,” Fried said, who also called out the governor for not condemning the Jan. 6 rioters that stormed the U.S. Capitol.

RELATED: DeSantis Goes After Companies ‘Imposing Woke Ideology on the Economy’

And while acknowledging the unprecedented decision of law enforcement authorities to search a former President’s home, Fried added: “Nobody is above the law, not Donald Trump, not Ron DeSantis, not me,” even as some GOP officials call for a dismantling of federal law enforcement agencies.

Not the First Time

But while DeSantis decries the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago, the governor has exercised his own brand of “weaponization” against those who challenge his rule.

One of the most recent examples is his war against businesses that, according to him, are “imposing woke ideology on the economy.”

For this reason, DeSantis recently announced plans to prohibit the use of Environmental, Social, and Governance standards when the state makes investment decisions, including those standards that consider the impacts of climate change. This is particularly troublesome for Florida.

“It’s not hyperbole to say that there is no other state that has more to lose over this issue than the state of Florida,” Pepper Uchino, president of the Florida Beach and Shore Preservation Association, told lawmakers.

RELATED: DeSantis Pushes for Conservative School Board Candidates Who Align With his Political Agenda

DeSantis also went after the Walt Disney Corporation after it refused to support his “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which prohibits discussion of gender and sexual orientation in the classroom. DeSantis retaliated by ending Walt Disney World’s 55 years of self-government, a move which left Orange County to face the “catastrophic” impact the bill would have on the county’s budget.

“If we had to take over the first response and public safety components for Reedy Creek with no new revenue [it] would put an undue burden on the rest of the taxpayers in Orange County,”
said Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings.

Fried, the only statewide elected Democrat, is running for the Democratic nomination for governor and hopes to unseat DeSantis, who is running for a second term.