Trump vows to build 'new and spectacular building' for FBI, DeSantis turns the table on former president

Former President Donald Trump vowed to build a "new and spectacular building" for the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took one of Trump's most popular MAGA rallying cries and weaponized it against the former president.

On Saturday afternoon, Trump declared that he not only wants to keep the FBI headquartered in Washington, D.C., but also wants to construct a "new and spectacular building" for the government agency.

The FBI Headquarters should not be moved to a far away location, but should stay right where it is, in a new and spectacular building, in the best location in our now crime ridden and filthy dirty, graffiti scarred, Capital. They should be involved in bringing back D.C., not running away from it, especially the violent crime. An important part of my platform for President is to bring back, restore, and rebuild Washington, D.C., into the “crown jewel” of our Nation. We will make it crime free and GREAT AGAIN. The FBI should not be fleeing for safer, yet much less convenient, environs. It should make where they are now the safest place on earth! DON’T MOVE THE FBI!

DeSantis used Trump's own Make America Great slogan against him to turn the tables on his FBI building promise.

"Donald Trump failed to drain the swamp, so perhaps it is not surprising that he is seeking to deepen the swamp by building a massive new FBI building in D.C.," DeSantis responded on the X social media platform. "Actually draining swamp requires taking power out of D.C., not cementing power inside D.C."

DeSantis targeted Trump during a town hall in Manchester, New Hampshire.

"NO! That’s part of the problem with the FBI. They’ve become overrun with D.C. politics — you need to take it out of D.C. Take power out of there – that’s how you drain the swamp," DeSantis declared.

"I'm taking power out of D.C., you're going to have a reduction in the size of government, but also in the scope of government," DeSantis stated.

Trump's promise to keep the FBI in the nation's capital is in complete contrast to DeSantis – who wants to relocate government agencies out of Washington, D.C.

In February, DeSantis proposed that federal agencies be relocated outside of D.C. to counter the "accumulation of power" in the nation’s capital.

"Too much power has accumulated in D.C. and the result is a detached administrative state that rules over us and imposes its will on us," DeSantis said in an interview with the New York Post. "While there are a host of things that need to be done to re-constitutionalize government, parceling out federal agencies to other parts of the country could help reduce the negative effects of this accumulation of power."

In August, DeSantis proclaimed that he wanted to slash the size of federal agencies by half, including relocating employees out of Washington, D.C.

"Some of that will be reduction through attrition as people retire, some of that will be transferring to other parts of the country getting them out of D.C.," DeSantis told CNBC host Brian Sullivan on “Last Call." "Some of it will involve layoffs and using Article II power to do it."

“But the agencies in our government have grown 50 percent since 2019,” the Republican governor explained. "If you look at their funding levels, I don’t think there’s any American that thinks they’re 50 percent better off for those agencies having grown by 50 percent.”

Earlier on Saturday, DeSantis took a shot at his primary opponents of Trump and Nikki Haley.

DeSantis said in the video posted on the X social media platform, "Donald Trump's running for his issues. Haley's running for her donors' issues. I'm running to address your issues."

On Friday while campaigning in Iowa, DeSantis reiterated his commitment to pardoning Trump if he were to be convicted on criminal charges.

"I think we got to move on as a country and, you know, like Ford did to Nixon, because the divisions are just not in the country’s interest," DeSantis answered when asked about pardoning Trump.

When asked again by a reporter, DeSantis replied, "Yeah, I said that months ago."

In July, DeSantis hinted that he would pardon Trump.

“Well, what I’ve said is very simple. I’m going to do what’s right for the country," DeSantis said in an interview with Megyn Kelly. "I don’t think it would be good for the country to have an almost 80-year-old former president go to prison."

When Kelly pressed DeSantis on the pardon, he replied, "It doesn't seem like it would be a good thing. And I look at like, you know, Ford pardoned Nixon, took some heat for it, but at the end of the day, it's like, do we want to move forward as a country? Or do we want to be mired in these past controversies?"

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