Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced today that he has signed an executive order mandating state law enforcement officials to launch their own criminal investigation into the apparent assassination attempt on Sept. 15 against former President Donald Trump, which will run parallel to a federal investigation. There appears to be some friction between state and federal authorities here, as DeSantis announced, during a press conference today, that the state will do its own investigation, because there were “few answers” that emerged from the earlier probe into the July 13 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, Associated Press reported him saying. DeSantis announced that the state investigation will be handled by Florida’s office of statewide prosecution, overseen by Attorney General Ashley Moody.
According to ABC News, DeSantis questioned the federal government’s ability to properly investigate the latest attempt on Trump’s life, adding that it made no sense to have the same federal agencies “that are seeking to prosecute Donald Trump” leading this investigation, especially when the most serious straightforward offense constitutes a violation of state law, but not federal law. The state has jurisdiction over this offense, which is attempted murder, he said, which could carry a life sentence, if suspect Ryan Routh were convicted. Attorney General Moody announced that the state investigation into the incident will be handled by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Florida Highway Patrol.