Palm Beach prosecutor says DeSantis could delay hypothetical Trump extradition

Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg in a Monday interview with CNN said that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) could delay a possible extradition of former President Trump to New York if there was an indictment but that he could not stop it.

There has been no indictment of Trump, and it is not clear one will happen, though a jury in New York City is investigating the former president and his businesses for banking and tax fraud.

Politico reported last week that law enforcement officials in Palm Beach have discussed how to handle a possible extradition if Trump is indicted by authorities. 

Aronberg told CNN’s Jim Acosta that “we have not had conversations with prosecutors in New York” about an extradition but that there have been informal conversations between the the clerk of court and other local officials about what could happen.

He also told Acosta that DeSantis’s power as governor to stop an extradition, if it were to come to that, was “really nonexistent.”

“He can try to delay it. He can send it to a committee and do research about it. But his role is really ministerial. And ultimately, the state of New York can go to court and get an order to extradite the former president, but DeSantis could delay matters,” Aronberg added.

Palm Beach Country State Attorney Dave Aronberg explains why Ron DeSantis won’t be able to save Trump from extradition in the case of a New York criminal charge. pic.twitter.com/5mRdj1ABwP

— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) May 17, 2021

When Acosta asked if Palm Beach would fight that, Aronberg said, “We would be part of it. But it’s really ministerial.”

Aronberg then noted that Congress’s tabulation on Jan. 6 of the Electoral College vote was supposed to be ministerial, adding, “And look what happened then. So you have to be prepared for anything.”

A mob interrupted Congress’s count on Jan. 6, seeking to stop it.