August 3, 2023 • 10 mins
On the one-year anniversary of Andrew Warren's suspension as Hillsborough State Attorney, he's receiving an award from the American Bar Association as he continues his appeal process. Meantime, the current top prosecutor says she's mended fences with the cops. We speak with Andrew Warren.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Gordenbird here with Beyond the News aswe're recording this. It is the one
year anniversary just about after Governor RodDessatis suspended to Andrew Warren from his job
as state Attorney in Hillsborough County.As it happens, on the one year
anniversary, he will be receiving anaward in Denver from the American Bar Association,
(00:22):
which is an annual award that isgiven to prosecutors that are felt to
uphold some exemplary standards by the ABA. Andrew Warren is here with us right
now via remote and mister Warren,thank you for your time and welcome Gordon,
thanks so much for having me on. Well now, first about this
(00:43):
award, I had the privilege ofspeaking to Sandy Weinberg. I'm sure you
know who he is. He isthe of course a Tampa attorney and has
been involved very much with the criminaljustice section of the American Bar Association,
and he was one of the peoplewho put your name in domination for this
award, along with Kevin Knapper andJames Fellman. Spoke to mister Weinberg and
(01:07):
he referenced your record as a stateattorney as extraordinary and explained some of the
benchmarks that the ABA uses for thisaward. If you could talk with us
a little bit about what it feelslike to be the recipient of this particular
award, the Minister of Justice Awardthat is handed out every year by the
American Bar Association. Of course,Well, I was surprised when I learned
(01:32):
that I was nominated a few monthsago, when I was really surprised when
I learned that I had won theaward. You know, it's a tremendous
honor to be recognized for embodying reallywhat it means to be a prosecutor,
and for all the success that we'vehad in making Hillsboro County safer. But
for me, the biggest honor hasalways been the opportunity to serve this community,
to be elected by the people knowingthat they share my vision and my
(01:55):
values for criminal justice. Now,of course, it's obviously an honor.
It is certainly. Do you thinkthat there is a context here about this
award taking place under the context andthe circumstances of your suspension from office,
(02:16):
Well, it's ironic that I'm goingto be receiving this award recognizing outstanding success
as a prosecutor on the year anniversaryof having been illegally and unlawfully suspended from
office. And you know, it'sbeen a year now, and it's been
five months since a court ruled thatthis was an illegal suspension, and I'm
(02:38):
still not back in office. Thisis just a long, slow slap in
the face to voters in Hillsborough Countyand to everybody who believes in democracy,
in the rule of law. Andas you mentioned, one year in,
you are still on the outside lookingin. You're still awaiting your appeal.
In the federal ruling in which ajudge lined up with you, and this
(03:00):
is very shorthand and maybe oversimplifying thingsa bit, or lined up with you
on the facts, but stated thathe lacked the jurisdiction to reinstate you.
The Florida Supreme Court rejected your argumentsin a separate filing, ostensibly because there
was too long of a way tofile and other reasons that some have called
(03:22):
technicalities. Have you set for yourselfany kind of deadline for how this process
plays out independent of what the courtsdecide? Is there a cut off point
for you which you say I'm goingto approach another path here? Or I'm
I'm going to pursue something else.No, there's not. This is too
(03:46):
important a fight to have some arbitrarydeadline. This is about not just the
position of state Attorney and not justabout you know, the office to which
I was elected to serve twice.This is a fight to protect the constitutional
rights of awfula Ridians. This isa right to defend the democracy of awfula
Ridians. This is a fight tomake sure that we're upholding the rule of
(04:10):
law in the state of Florida,even though Rond Santis is the governor.
So we've been fighting this fight nowfor the past year. It's taken a
toll on me and my family,but it's a fight worth fighting, and
we're going to continue to do whatwe've done from the beginning, which is
standing up for the rule of lawand standing up for American values as they're
being violated here by our governor.I'm sure it had a cost and a
(04:34):
toll. Is there anything that you'vebeen involved in other than pursuing your reinstatement
over this past year. Well,for the first several months, I was
singularly focused on the legal fights,and as we've been waiting now, for
the past few months, for themost recent court ruling, I've started to
(04:57):
work with groups across the country whoare fighting this fight in other places.
You know, Florida is the canaryin the coal mine of democracy. What
we're seeing here is happening though inother states with abuses of power that are
violating people's constitutional rights. And soI've been at the the tip of the
spear on this in Florida for thepast year, and now I'm working with
(05:19):
nonprofits and public addabacy organizations across thecountry to make sure that we are defending
the rule of law everywhere. Doyou believe that there are officials elected officials
in other states who are looking towhat was done by Governor De Santis not
as a as a blueprint for somethingthat they might be able to do in
(05:43):
their states. I do, indeed. I think Donald Trump set a precedent
of being willing to violate the ruleof law to erode the institutions of our
democracy, you know, by criticizingjudges, criticizing national security apparatus, criticizing
the hard working men and women ofthe Justice Department, the FBI, and
(06:08):
Governor De Santis has taken that toa new level where he is repeatedly violating
people's constitutional rights, repeatedly violating ethicalnorms in our country, breaking both the
spirit and the letter of the law. And now we're seeing people around the
country who are copycatting that. Andwe need to get back to the point
where Republicans and Democrats are disagreeing aboutpolicy issues, where we're disagreeing about how
(06:32):
best to achieve the American dream forthe most people. Right now, we're
fighting about whether we even believe inAmerica because you have too many people in
this country who are willing to throwout the Constitution to promote their own political
agenda, and that's extremely dangerous todemocracy. A couple of questions about this
(06:53):
process, and they may be toan extent hypothetical, and so be that,
if and when the court cases playout, would you ever consider going
to the state Senate to ask forreinstatement. Well, it depends. I
mean, we're not at that thatstep in the process. Yet, we
(07:16):
believe in the arguments that we madeto the court. We believe that the
laws on our side. We agreewith the findings that the district court made,
which were pretty basic. As yousaid before, it was that the
governor violated state and federal law andsuspending me, and that I had done
my job extremely well, and thatthe allegations that he cooked up were for
(07:38):
political reasons in publicity. We disagreeabout whether the court had the authority to
reinstate me, and that's what we'rewaiting to see now so that I can
get back to doing the job thatI was elected to do by the people
of Hillsborough County twice. And speakingof elections, Susan Lopez, who currently
holds the state attorney's post, hasannounced that she is running for election to
(08:01):
the post in twenty twenty four.Have you made any decision about whether to
seek office again at the ballot box. I haven't yet, just because we're
not at that point yet and we'restill fighting to get back to serve to
finish serving the term that I waselected to serve in twenty twenty. So
(08:22):
this is not over yet. Interms of the fight. We have to
make sure that the voters' rights arenot violated, to make sure that the
voters have the elected official of theirchoice, to make sure that we continue
moving our criminal justice system forward ina way that makes our family safer and
our system better the way the voterswanted us to move forward in that regard.
(08:46):
So that's what this is about.You know, as the case continues
to proceed, and as we getcloser to next November, it'll be time
to make decisions about next year.In closing, I'll give you a moment
to if you would like to addany thoughts you'd like to leave with our
listeners as we wrap up here.Well, I get asked a lot about,
(09:07):
you know, how this has impactedme personally. It's obviously been really
difficult on me and my family fromdeath threats I've received too, you know,
people talking about that my kids deserveto die because of the way that
I've been the state attorney. Imean, just craziness. But the one
silver lining in this is I've foundsome more flexibility in my schedule to be
(09:28):
able to spend time with my twoyoung daughters, although I think most of
the time I'd be willing to tradethat flexibility to have a functioning democracy and
a governor who respected the rule oflaw. Andrew Warren, who had been
Hillsborough's state attorney and is on suspensionsfrom that post and is working to get
(09:50):
the job back Andrew Warren, thankyou very much for joining us on beyond
the news or in my pleasure.Thank you and have a great day.
Gordenbird here with Beyond the News aswe're recording this. It is the one
year anniversary just about after Governor RodDessatis suspended to Andrew Warren from his job
as state Attorney in Hillsborough County.As it happens, on the one year
anniversary, he will be receiving anaward in Denver from the American Bar Association,
(00:22):
which is an annual award that isgiven to prosecutors that are felt to
uphold some exemplary standards by the ABA. Andrew Warren is here with us right
now via remote and mister Warren,thank you for your time and welcome Gordon,
thanks so much for having me on. Well now, first about this
(00:43):
award, I had the privilege ofspeaking to Sandy Weinberg. I'm sure you
know who he is. He isthe of course a Tampa attorney and has
been involved very much with the criminaljustice section of the American Bar Association,
and he was one of the peoplewho put your name in domination for this
award, along with Kevin Knapper andJames Fellman. Spoke to mister Weinberg and
(01:07):
he referenced your record as a stateattorney as extraordinary and explained some of the
benchmarks that the ABA uses for thisaward. If you could talk with us
a little bit about what it feelslike to be the recipient of this particular
award, the Minister of Justice Awardthat is handed out every year by the
American Bar Association. Of course,Well, I was surprised when I learned
(01:32):
that I was nominated a few monthsago, when I was really surprised when
I learned that I had won theaward. You know, it's a tremendous
honor to be recognized for embodying reallywhat it means to be a prosecutor,
and for all the success that we'vehad in making Hillsboro County safer. But
for me, the biggest honor hasalways been the opportunity to serve this community,
to be elected by the people knowingthat they share my vision and my
(01:55):
values for criminal justice. Now,of course, it's obviously an honor.
It is certainly. Do you thinkthat there is a context here about this
award taking place under the context andthe circumstances of your suspension from office,
(02:16):
Well, it's ironic that I'm goingto be receiving this award recognizing outstanding success
as a prosecutor on the year anniversaryof having been illegally and unlawfully suspended from
office. And you know, it'sbeen a year now, and it's been
five months since a court ruled thatthis was an illegal suspension, and I'm
(02:38):
still not back in office. Thisis just a long, slow slap in
the face to voters in Hillsborough Countyand to everybody who believes in democracy,
in the rule of law. Andas you mentioned, one year in,
you are still on the outside lookingin. You're still awaiting your appeal.
In the federal ruling in which ajudge lined up with you, and this
(03:00):
is very shorthand and maybe oversimplifying thingsa bit, or lined up with you
on the facts, but stated thathe lacked the jurisdiction to reinstate you.
The Florida Supreme Court rejected your argumentsin a separate filing, ostensibly because there
was too long of a way tofile and other reasons that some have called
(03:22):
technicalities. Have you set for yourselfany kind of deadline for how this process
plays out independent of what the courtsdecide? Is there a cut off point
for you which you say I'm goingto approach another path here? Or I'm
I'm going to pursue something else.No, there's not. This is too
(03:46):
important a fight to have some arbitrarydeadline. This is about not just the
position of state Attorney and not justabout you know, the office to which
I was elected to serve twice.This is a fight to protect the constitutional
rights of awfula Ridians. This isa right to defend the democracy of awfula
Ridians. This is a fight tomake sure that we're upholding the rule of
(04:10):
law in the state of Florida,even though Rond Santis is the governor.
So we've been fighting this fight nowfor the past year. It's taken a
toll on me and my family,but it's a fight worth fighting, and
we're going to continue to do whatwe've done from the beginning, which is
standing up for the rule of lawand standing up for American values as they're
being violated here by our governor.I'm sure it had a cost and a
(04:34):
toll. Is there anything that you'vebeen involved in other than pursuing your reinstatement
over this past year. Well,for the first several months, I was
singularly focused on the legal fights,and as we've been waiting now, for
the past few months, for themost recent court ruling, I've started to
(04:57):
work with groups across the country whoare fighting this fight in other places.
You know, Florida is the canaryin the coal mine of democracy. What
we're seeing here is happening though inother states with abuses of power that are
violating people's constitutional rights. And soI've been at the the tip of the
spear on this in Florida for thepast year, and now I'm working with
(05:19):
nonprofits and public addabacy organizations across thecountry to make sure that we are defending
the rule of law everywhere. Doyou believe that there are officials elected officials
in other states who are looking towhat was done by Governor De Santis not
as a as a blueprint for somethingthat they might be able to do in
(05:43):
their states. I do, indeed. I think Donald Trump set a precedent
of being willing to violate the ruleof law to erode the institutions of our
democracy, you know, by criticizingjudges, criticizing national security apparatus, criticizing
the hard working men and women ofthe Justice Department, the FBI, and
(06:08):
Governor De Santis has taken that toa new level where he is repeatedly violating
people's constitutional rights, repeatedly violating ethicalnorms in our country, breaking both the
spirit and the letter of the law. And now we're seeing people around the
country who are copycatting that. Andwe need to get back to the point
where Republicans and Democrats are disagreeing aboutpolicy issues, where we're disagreeing about how
(06:32):
best to achieve the American dream forthe most people. Right now, we're
fighting about whether we even believe inAmerica because you have too many people in
this country who are willing to throwout the Constitution to promote their own political
agenda, and that's extremely dangerous todemocracy. A couple of questions about this
(06:53):
process, and they may be toan extent hypothetical, and so be that,
if and when the court cases playout, would you ever consider going
to the state Senate to ask forreinstatement. Well, it depends. I
mean, we're not at that thatstep in the process. Yet, we
(07:16):
believe in the arguments that we madeto the court. We believe that the
laws on our side. We agreewith the findings that the district court made,
which were pretty basic. As yousaid before, it was that the
governor violated state and federal law andsuspending me, and that I had done
my job extremely well, and thatthe allegations that he cooked up were for
(07:38):
political reasons in publicity. We disagreeabout whether the court had the authority to
reinstate me, and that's what we'rewaiting to see now so that I can
get back to doing the job thatI was elected to do by the people
of Hillsborough County twice. And speakingof elections, Susan Lopez, who currently
holds the state attorney's post, hasannounced that she is running for election to
(08:01):
the post in twenty twenty four.Have you made any decision about whether to
seek office again at the ballot box. I haven't yet, just because we're
not at that point yet and we'restill fighting to get back to serve to
finish serving the term that I waselected to serve in twenty twenty. So
(08:22):
this is not over yet. Interms of the fight. We have to
make sure that the voters' rights arenot violated, to make sure that the
voters have the elected official of theirchoice, to make sure that we continue
moving our criminal justice system forward ina way that makes our family safer and
our system better the way the voterswanted us to move forward in that regard.
(08:46):
So that's what this is about.You know, as the case continues
to proceed, and as we getcloser to next November, it'll be time
to make decisions about next year.In closing, I'll give you a moment
to if you would like to addany thoughts you'd like to leave with our
listeners as we wrap up here.Well, I get asked a lot about,
(09:07):
you know, how this has impactedme personally. It's obviously been really
difficult on me and my family fromdeath threats I've received too, you know,
people talking about that my kids deserveto die because of the way that
I've been the state attorney. Imean, just craziness. But the one
silver lining in this is I've foundsome more flexibility in my schedule to be
(09:28):
able to spend time with my twoyoung daughters, although I think most of
the time I'd be willing to tradethat flexibility to have a functioning democracy and
a governor who respected the rule oflaw. Andrew Warren, who had been
Hillsborough's state attorney and is on suspensionsfrom that post and is working to get
(09:50):
the job back Andrew Warren, thankyou very much for joining us on beyond
the news or in my pleasure.Thank you and have a great day.
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