Ron DeSantis Calls Out Donald Trump for Doing Nothing During January 6th Capitol Riots: 'He Should Have Come Out More Forcefully'

On Tuesday, July 18, Donald Trump announced that he'd been informed he was the target of an investigation into the January 6th Capitol riots.

Later that day, presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis tiptoed around his own opinions on the violent insurrection, implying that he didn't think this warranted a criminal prosecution, but also admitting that the embattled ex-prez could have handled the situation differently.

"The difference between being brought up on criminal charges and doing things," he told a news outlet. "For example, I think it was shown he was in the White House and didn’t do anything while things were going on. He should have come out more forcefully, of course that."

"We want to be in a situation where you don’t have one side just constantly trying to put the other side in jail," he added. "And that, unfortunately, is what we’re seeing now."

As OK! previously reported, Trump slammed Special Counsel Jack Smith's ongoing investigation in a scathing statement shared to Truth Social on Tuesday morning.

"Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with [President] Joe Biden’s DOJ, sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment," Trump wrote in the lengthy statement.

He also accused the Biden Administration of attempting to meddle with his 2024 presidential election campaign, calling the case a "witch hunt."

"Crooked Joe Biden & his injustice department want to indict & arrest his presumed political opponent (me!), who is leading him in the polls," he penned. "Such a thing has never happened in our country before...and in the middle of the campaign??? Election interference and prosecutorial misconduct!!!"

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Although the 77-year-old has yet to be arrested for his alleged actions on January 6, 2021, he is currently facing a slew of other criminal charges.

In late March, a grand jury voted to indict Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business documents connected to a payment made to Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 election. Just over two months later, he was hit with 37 counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents.

Aside from criminal charges, earlier this year, he was found liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll. He was found liable for defamation as well — but despite the court's findings, he has continued to call the former journalist a scam artist and a liar.