Earlier this month, as Leah reported, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) made moves to suspend Soros-backed State attorney Andrew Warren for only selectively enforcing the law. At the time, Warren called his removal a "political stunt" and an "illegal overreach." He's gone even further, though, with last week's op-ed for The Washington Post that laughably read "DeSantis sacked me for doing my job as a prosecutor. Who’s next?" Then, on Wednesday morning, he announced that he's suing the governor.
Local news outlet FOX 13 included a copy of the complaint in its reporting, in which Warren focused on the nature of the First Amendment. The complaint, for instance, mentions in part that "Warren brings this lawsuit to confirm that the First Amendment still applies even though DeSantis is the Governor of Florida and that the Constitution of the State o Florida means what the courts say it means, not whatever DeSantis needs it to mean to silence his critics, promote his loyalists, and subvert the will of the voters."
Speaking of "voters," during Wednesday's press conference, Warren even accused DeSantis of trying to "overturn a fair election."
One particular point of Warren's press conference that a reporter picked up on, as highlighted by Florida's Voice, was Warren's fixation on claiming DeSantis has been behaving in an "undemocratic" way.
WATCH: Reporter grills suspended Andrew Warren on calling DeSantis 'undemocratic'
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) August 17, 2022
"Do you accept that the governor was elected democratically by all the people in Florida?"
"I'm sorry, the question?"
"You're saying it's undemocratic, but the governor was elected by the people" pic.twitter.com/08x76xBVhZ
The reporter pointed out to Warren that he was "saying it's undemocratic," adding "but the governor was elected by the people of Florida," going on to ask him, "how are you calling him undemocratic if he was elected? I mean, he's not a tyrant."
Warren responded by acknowledging "I agree that the governor was elected in a fair and free election, one of them," but then went on to make it about himself, reminding that he had also been elected, twice. Warren then went even more off-topic to demonstrate he doesn't respect DeSantis' authority to suspend him, by adding "if the governor thinks he can do a better job of being state attorney in Hillsborough County, he should probably look at the vote count."
In a statement for Townhall about the lawsuit, DeSantis' Press Secretary Bryan Griffin said that "It’s not surprising Warren, who was suspended for refusing to follow the law, would file a legally baseless lawsuit challenging his suspension. We look forward to responding in court."
It's worth emphasizing that in his move to suspend Warren, though, DeSantis was not seeking to overturn Warren's election win, though it has become an obsession of the Left to focus on threats to elections, even when it doesn't exist or is exaggerated.
Rather, DeSantis' office was clear in his authority, in that "The Governor has the authority to suspend a state officer under Article IV, Section 7 of the Constitution of the State of Florida."
Even Warren acknowledged DeSantis' argument in the complaint, though he sought to discredit it.
An episode of "Tucker Carlson Tonight" that same day that Warren was suspended shows a preoccupation with his pro-abortion position, to the point of not enforcing laws he does not like, hence the reason DeSantis took action against him. The segment also highlighted how Warren gleefully prosecuted a pastor who defied COVID restrictions, while declining to prosecute someone who shot into a home with children inside.
DeSantis spoke with the Fox News host that night about his decision to suspend Warren.
George Soros, a billionaire progressive who has funded woke, soft on crime officials, such as Warren, wrote in a July 31 op-ed for The Wall Street Journal that he'll continue to do so, in the name of supporting "reform prosecutors." Liberal states and cities however, are not as fortunate to have Republican governors like DeSantis to reign them in.