Gov. Ron DeSantis called the investigation by a state attorney into First Lady Casey DeSantis’ Hope Florida Foundation a manufactured political operation during a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
The governor spoke at more length Wednesday than he’d done Tuesday when the Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald first reported the open investigation by State’s Attorney Jack Campbell in Tallahassee into the transfer to the foundation of $10 million from a $67 million Medicaid overpayment settlement with the state.
After signing three bills in Winter Haven, DeSantis answered questions about the Hope Florida investigation by insulting Pensacola Republican Alex Andrade, chair of the House Health Care Budget Subcommittee, who launched a legislative probe into the settlement during this year’s legislative session.
“You have one Jackass in the legislature — I’m sorry, it’s true — who’s trying to smear her, smear good people, and just understand what happened,” DeSantis said. “He took documents and he dropped them in a prosecutor’s office that is not an organic investigation, that’s a manufactured political operation. That’s all this is: Somebody with an agenda dropped off documents, and that’s all that.”
Hope Florida Foundation steered the funds to two groups that sent a combined $8.5 million to Keep Florida Clean, a political action committee created to oppose Amendment 3, the failed 2024 ballot measure that would have legalized marijuana. The governor’s then-chief of staff and current attorney general, James Uthmeier, chaired that committee.
Andrade responded to DeSantis’ comments on X, stating, “I can feel the love…”