Florida’s state attorney, fired by Gov. Ron DeSantis, insisted Friday that he still has a job, but the Republican governor’s office said he can’t even enter his old office.
Andrew Warren, who was the Hillsborough County district attorney until DeSantis announced his ouster Thursday, insisted to CBS that he is still on the job.
“He doesn’t have the power to remove me,” he told the network, adding that “the people elected me to serve in this position and I will continue to do so to keep our neighborhoods safe.”
Warren argued that the move was “unconstitutional” and that he refused to recognize its legitimacy.
Those comments drew a rebuke on Twitter from DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushow on Friday, who said Warren was “delusional.”
“Andrew Warren is telling the media that he is still the State’s Attorney because he identifies as a State’s Attorney,” she wrote. “I’m sorry, but that doesn’t fly here. In Florida, we live in the real world. His badge wouldn’t even work for access to his former office today.
DeSantis said he removed Warren because he did not prosecute serious crimes and promised to ignore current or future restrictions on abortion or sex-reassignment surgery on minors.
Former Florida Attorney General Andrew Warren insisted that Gov. Ron DeSantis did not have the power to remove him. Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via AP DeSantis claims he fired Warren because he didn’t go after criminals. Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via AP
“We’re not going to let a pathogen that’s all over the country ignore the law, we’re not going to let it set foot here in the state of Florida,” the governor said Thursday. “We will make sure our laws are enforced and no individual prosecutor is placed above the law.”
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister supported the suspension, saying local law enforcement has grown frustrated with what they see as Warren’s leniency.
Warren overturned his suspension, arguing that his office did not handle any cases involving abortions or sex-reassignment surgeries, and that he was being punished for hypothetical misconduct.
A spokesman for the Florida governor’s office said Warren no longer has access to her old office. REUTERS/Octavio Jones Warren called the decision to suspend him “unconstitutional”. Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via AP
DeSantis has repeatedly criticized progressive prosecutors’ offices in cities like New York and Los Angeles, saying they have allowed crime to flourish.
Warren was deleted from the state attorney’s website shortly after his suspension, as DeSantis appointed Susan Lopez to take his place.
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