The Daily Beast reports:

The Orlando-area prosecutor ousted by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday hit back at the shock suspension, calling the stunt a “smokescreen” to distract from DeSantis’ spiraling presidential campaign.

Monique Worrell is now the second democratically elected state prosecutor to lose her job to a DeSantis power grab. The governor attributed Worrell’s suspension to her being too forgiving on crime, despite her comfortably winning 67 percent of the vote in Orange and Osceola counties in 2020.

“I am your duly elected state attorney for the 9th Judicial Circuit and nothing done by a weak dictator can change that,” Worrell said in a press conference Wednesday.

The executive order suspending Worrell cites “neglect of duty” and “incompetence,” and is part of DeSantis’ anti-woke crusade.

“Worrell’s practices and policies have too often allowed violent criminals to escape the full consequences of their criminal conduct, thereby endangering the innocent civilians of Orange and Osceola counties,” the governor’s office said in a statement.

DeSantis did the same thing to Tampa prosecutor Andrew Warren for defying a state abortion ban last year. Warren challenged it in court—and lost. In January, a federal judge acknowledged that the Florida governor violated his own state’s constitution and a prosecutor’s free speech rights by firing him, but held back from stopping him. Critics at the time warned that DeSantis would feel emboldened to strike again—especially as he continues to falter on the campaign trail. [Continue reading…]