The Republican Party of Florida has voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit against the Florida Democratic Party, three statewide Democratic candidates, and 11 television stations over an ad exposing the $10 million DeSantis family Hope Florida scandal.
The facts here are pretty clear. Ron and Casey DeSantis diverted $10 million in federal Medicare funds to a dark money political committee that they used to fund a constitutional statewide amendment campaign. This money was earmarked for the poor, the elderly, and the handicapped. James Uthmeier, then the governor’s Chief of Staff, but now the state’s appointed Attorney General, facilitated the transfer. Then Attorney General Ashley Moody, now appointed to the US Senate, approved the transaction. The Florida State House held revelatory hearings on the matter. Ultimately the perpetrators returned the $10 million, but took it from state Medicare funds, not from their political coffers to which the money they grabbed had flown.
RPOF filed the suit late Friday night in Highlands County, seeking an immediate order to block the ad before Democrats could respond, while its lawyers warned stations that airing it could be a crime. On Tuesday, a circuit judge denied Republicans’ request to pull the ad without hearing from Democrats. On Wednesday, the GOP dropped the case.’’
This is a major loss for Ron DeSantis and his wife, who are desperately trying to cover up the fact that they stole $10 Million directly from Florida’s poorest residents.
“Well, that didn’t take long,” said Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried. “Republicans raced to court in the middle of the night to silence us, threatened TV stations, and tried to scare Floridians out of talking about Hope Florida. After a judge denied their emergency request to pull our ad, they walked away from their own case. Their stunt backfired. Thanks to this lawsuit, more Floridians are paying attention, and the pressure for answers keeps mounting. Who decided to send $10 million from a Medicaid settlement to the first lady’s charity? Why did $8.5 million of it end up in a political committee run by James Uthmeier? And what did the Republican Party of Florida do with its share? Those questions aren’t going away just because Republicans dropped their lawsuit.”
The lawsuit was the latest in a string of efforts to keep Hope Florida out of public view, including more than $327,000 in taxpayer-funded outside legal fees tied to the investigation, and months of court fights over the release of the grand jury report.
When initially asked about the illicit transfer Governor Desantis urged reports to ask his wife since the Hope project was “her thing”
The Governor’s defenders claimed that 10 millions dollars came from a fine that had been levied against a company caught over-charging the Medicare System.
This argument does not hold water because the fines still belonged to the State Medicare system and should have been used to fund the Medicare program not to illicitly fund a campaign against those “Desanti”, as I call them, oppose.
Despite the fact that this is an egregious violation of both state and federal law, a grand jury in Orange County released a “presentment” rather than indictments and sealed those documents, so people (also known as voters) would not know precisely what had transpired.
This grand jury presentment leaked and was widely reported in the media. Citing the revelations of that grand jury presentment in public is not in any way a crime since the grand jury proceedings have not been challenged as in-authentic or inaccurate and are now in the public domain.
This scandal does not touch Republican Governor nominee Byron Donalds, who has not defended the actions but has referred reporters questioning him about it to Governor DeSantis for answers.
We have discussed the criminality of this scandal at length here at Stone Cold Truth. To read about it in depth make sure to check out this extremely detailed piece on the depths of this scandal, and Ron DeSantis’ backstabbing nature:
People must remember that if elected, Governor Byron Donalds does have the authority to launch an investigation into the DeSantis’ corruption. This is a prime reason why I have been speaking out against the DeSantis’ for many years.
Governor Byron Donalds would have the authority to in essence appoint a Special Prosecutor under Florida Statute 27-14 to examine this article afresh.
The only reason the DeSantis’ are not currently under indictment for their conduct is the ‘general amnesia’ of their staff while they were being questioned by the grand jury, and before the State Legislature which found that they misappropriated the funds.
Whether it’s the insurance crisis, skyrocketing utility rates, or deep corruption, Ron DeSantis is not the governor he wants you to think he is. He didn’t even stand up for Floridians, as he falsely claims, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
DeSantis locked down his state, pushed COVID vaccinations, and later changed the narrative to suit his invented career narrative. More egregiously he betrayed the man who lifted him from obscurity and catapulted him to the Governor’s office.
Ron DeSantis is a fraud, and he will never be President of the United States.
Justice isn’t one-sided, and doesn’t belong to one political party, and no man is above the law, especially Ron DeSantis, who is such a short little man that he stands above nothing.
Thank you, THANK YOU!! I have been writing for four years about the many and VARIED unconstitutional and IMMORAL things this man has done.: removing duly elected County officials, presiding over MANY voter registration 'irregularities'', signing to allow the use of toxic radioactive byproduct from phosphate mining, He is a shrub from the Bush
nursery" . I couild go on and on.
Interesting read for this guy from the frozen tundra