TAMPA, Fla. — Suspended Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren said he was escorted from his office by armed security last week in a move he likened to a third-world political coup.
He said he plans to fight his suspension in court and, if necessary, in the Florida Senate.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Warren had been neglectful in his duty and showed incompetence when it came to prosecuting certain crimes and criminals.
But Warren said crime statistics show otherwise.
Warren said the move was purely political since he has publicly said he’d oppose prosecuting cases against women and doctors who violate the state’s 15-week abortion law.
That law is still being challenged in the courts.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re Democrat, Republican or libertarian. Everybody should be outraged. Everybody. This is not how our democracy works,” Warren said. “If the governor, the king, can just throw out elected officials, what’s the point of having elections? This is what happens in Venezuela and in Russia - and in North Korea. This is not democracy. This is not America."
10 Tampa Bay reached out to the office of DeSantis’s appointed State Attorney Susan Lopez asking for an interview. So far, they’ve declined.