当佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯(Ron DeSantis)周五晚上在北卡罗来纳州格林斯博罗(Greensboro)的一个舞厅登台时，美国仍在消化几个小时前对他的头号竞争对手的37项联邦起诉书的启封。前总统唐纳德·特朗普这一发展在共和党总统初选中引起了反响。
但这位州长本周末在北卡罗来纳州和俄克拉荷马州塔尔萨的演讲，是他在起诉后的首次公开露面，与他上周在三个早期提名州的演讲没有什么不同，承诺为一个被“觉醒”思维所征服的国家“恢复理智”。
德桑蒂斯从未提到特朗普的名字，只是似乎拐弯抹角地提到了起诉新闻，谴责联邦机构的“武器化”——因为特朗普和其他共和党人一直在尖锐批评司法部和监督特朗普案件的检察官。
德桑蒂斯的语气不那么好斗了。与2024年竞选中的其他一些人不同，他也没有表示，如果特朗普当选，他是否会寻求联邦赦免。
“我们的开国元勋绝对会预测到我们看到的这些特工的武器化，特别是司法部和联邦调查局，因为当你没有宪法问责时，人性就是这样，他们会滥用权力。这就是所发生的事情，”德桑蒂斯说北卡罗莱纳州共和党大会。
正如他在一个推特声明周四晚上，德桑蒂斯引用希拉里·克林顿和亨特·拜登的话来证明美国存在双重司法标准。
拜登，总统的儿子，正在接受联邦调查，并坚持他将被清除;对克林顿在政府工作期间使用个人电子邮件服务器的调查进行的审查表明，她与特朗普的行为存在明显差异，当局发现她“缺乏意图”，尽管联邦调查局局长当时称她“极其粗心”。
德桑蒂斯在他的大会演讲中说:“你知道吗，当我在国会时，我记得，你知道，希拉里有机密的电子邮件，我的观点是，天哪，作为一名海军军官，如果我从我的部门拿走机密，我会在纽约一分钟内被法庭传讯，但他们似乎不在乎这些。”
他继续警告对普通美国人的威胁，他说，这些人可能会受到系统的类似虐待。
“事情是这样的:显然有你高调的例子，但也有普通人可能不会得到同样的头条新闻的例子，”他说。
德桑蒂斯的回应反映了他在特朗普今年3月被纽约市大陪审团起诉后的言论，指控他向一名成人电影女演员支付封口费。特朗普在那起案件中辩称无罪。
2023年6月10日，在北卡罗来纳州格林斯博罗举行的北卡罗来纳州共和党大会上，前总统唐纳德·特朗普在发言后做手势。
查克·伯顿/美联社，档案
“为了推进政治议程而将法律系统武器化，彻底颠覆了法治，”他当时在推特上写道，但没有点名特朗普。
德桑蒂斯在俄克拉荷马州塔尔萨发表讲话时，也没有提到特朗普的联邦起诉。尽管如此，参加活动的一些选民还是担心这一点，一些人认为这将影响特朗普在2024年获胜的能力。
来自塔尔萨的共和党人理查德·费里斯告诉美国广播公司新闻，他还没有决定在2024年的选举中支持谁，他参加了德桑蒂斯的竞选活动，以更多地了解州长。
尽管在2020年支持特朗普，但费里斯表示，他担心这位前总统赢得选举的能力。
“现在他身上发生的一些事情，我认为他在竞选总统时已经有足够多的事情要担心了，”费里斯说。
费里斯将DOJ对特朗普的起诉列为他的担忧之一，但他补充说，他认为特朗普是被单独挑出来的。
黛比和鲍勃·格雷什告诉美国广播公司新闻，尽管他们在2020年大选中投票给特朗普，并相信他是个好人，“鉴于正在发生的所有问题，很难选他。”
当被问及对特朗普最近被起诉的看法时，格雷什夫妇表示，他们认为这是一种在选举中“赶走竞争”的策略。
“我认为他们在作弄他，我认为这是可耻的，”鲍勃·格雷什说。
川普本人则利用本周末的露面，对这起联邦案件和负责起诉的特别顾问杰克·史密斯进行了抨击。
他对德桑蒂斯也有尖锐的言辞，称这位州长是一位“没有个性”的“糟糕的竞选者”——而德桑蒂斯则回击了特朗普，称他违背了特朗普在移民等问题上的承诺。
周六，特朗普出现在佐治亚州的一个华夫饼屋，迎接支持者。在他身边的是沃尔特·诺塔他也在联邦案件中被起诉。Nauta的律师拒绝对ABC新闻发表评论。
DeSantis skirts Trump's 2nd indictment but warns of government 'weaponization'
When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took the stage in a Greensboro, North Carolina, ballroom on Friday night, the country was still digesting the unsealing hours earlier of a 37-count federal indictment of his top rival,former President Donald Trump, a development that reverberated through the Republican presidential primary.
But the governor's speeches this weekend in North Carolina and Tulsa, Oklahoma, his first public appearances after the indictment, diverged little from ones he gave last week across three early nominating states, with promises to "restore sanity" to a nation overcome by "woke" thinking.
DeSantis never mentioned Trump by name and only appeared to reference the indictment news obliquely, condemning the "weaponization" of federal agencies -- as Trump and other Republicans have been sharply criticizing the Department of Justice and the prosecutor overseeing Trump's case.
DeSantis took a somewhat less combative tone. Unlike some others in the 2024 race, he has also not said whether he would seek a federal pardon of Trump if he is elected.
"Our founding fathers would have absolutely predicted the weaponization that we've seen with these agents, particularly Justice and FBI, because when you don't have constitutional accountability, human nature is such that they will abuse power. And that's what happened," DeSantis said at theNorth Carolina's state GOP convention.
As he did in aTwitter statementon Thursday night, DeSantis cited Hillary Clinton and Hunter Biden to argue that a double standard of justice exists in America.
Biden, the president's son, is under federal investigation and has maintained he will be cleared; a review of the investigation into Clinton's use of a personal email server while working in the government suggests notable differences with Trump's conduct and authorities found a "lack of intent" on her part, though the FBI director at the time called her "extremely careless."
DeSantis said in his convention speech that "you know what, when I was in Congress, I remember, you know, Hillary had emails with the classified, and my view was, gee, as a naval officer, if I would have taken classified from my department, I would have been court marshaled in a New York minute, and yet they seem to not care about that."
He went on to warn of threats to regular Americans who, he said, could be similarly mistreated by the system.
"Here's the thing: There's obviously your high-profile examples, but there are examples of ordinary people who may not get the same headlines," he said.
DeSantis' response mirrored his comments after Trump was indicted in March by a New York City grand jury on charges related to hush money he paid to an adult film actress. Trump has pleaded not guilty in that case.
"The weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head," he wrote then on Twitter, not naming Trump.
During his remarks in Tulsa, Oklahoma, DeSantis also did not mention Trump's federal indictment. Still, it was a concern for some voters who attended the event, with some believing it would impact Trump's ability to win in 2024.
Richard Ferris, a Republican from Tulsa, told ABC News that he had not decided who he'll support in the 2024 election and that he attended DeSantis' campaign event to learn more about the governor.
Despite supporting Trump in 2020, Ferris says he's concerned about the former president's ability to win the election.
"Some of the things that are going on with him right now, I think he's got enough to worry about as far as running for president," Ferris said.
Ferris cited the DOJ's indictment of Trump as one of his concerns but added that he believes that Trump is being singled out.
Debbie and Bob Gresh told ABC News that although they voted for Trump in the 2020 election and believe he's a good man, "with all the issues that are going on, it would be hard to elect him."
When asked about their thoughts on Trump's recent indictment, the Greshes said they believe it's a ploy to "drive away competition" in the election.
"I think they're picking on him and I think it's shameful," Bob Gresh said.
Trump, for his part, used his appearances this weekend to rail against the federal case and the special counsel, Jack Smith, who is leading the prosecution.
He had sharp words for DeSantis, too, labeling the governor a "lousy campaigner" with "no personality" -- while DeSantis has hit back at Trump over what DeSantis said are Trump's broken pledges on immigration and more.
On Saturday, Trump appeared at a Waffle House in Georgia to greet supporters. At his side wasWalt Nauta, who was also indicted in the federal case. Nauta's attorney has declined to comment to ABC News.
