Where does Casey DeSantis go to get her apology?
That’s the question underlying Gov. Ron DeSantis’ strident defense of the First Lady in the wake of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) decision to end the federal investigation into the Hope Florida Foundation.
Questions swirled regarding Medicaid settlement money that went first to the Foundation in 2024, only to be used for political advertising to defeat a constitutional amendment that would have legalized marijuana that year.
During a roughly seven-minute monologue at a press conference, the Governor said it was clear from the outset that nothing had been done wrong, that his wife was not involved with the state charity and its shifting of funds for political purposes, and that much of the blame rested with the “very partisan media” that is driven by partisan grievance and prejudice against faith-based initiatives.
“We said at the beginning, it was a political op. It was a hoax,” the Governor said. “It was all a political scam, and there was a political agenda.”
The Hope Florida Foundation came under scrutiny last year after news broke that the organization was funneled $10 million from a Medicaid settlement that was supposed to go to state coffers. Much of that money later ended up in the Keep Florida Clean committee chaired by Attorney General James Uthmeier to fight the marijuana legalization effort in 2024. Uthmeier was Chief of Staff for DeSantis at the time.
The Governor, who last year called that money a “cherry on top” of the base of the settlement and suggested it was his to program as he saw fit, didn’t wade into the mechanics of the transactions Thursday. He preferred instead to bash the press, saying it was unfair to “smear” his wife, whose key initiative was Hope Florida itself.
“She wasn’t involved in any of the settlement or any of that. I mean, that’s just nonsense. But you know, the media will try to do that because it’s just trying to get clicks and trying to smear. So I think any of the coverage was typically horrific, and it was agenda-driven,” the Governor said.
Despite the $10 million funneled through political committees to consultants and for media buys, Ron DeSantis defiantly insisted all money was used as it should be, using the First Lady’s exoneration to defend the enterprise writ large.
“She does not have a charity. They wanted people to say that there was a donation made to her charity,” the Governor said. “She wasn’t involved in any of that. It’s a sanctioned charity for the state of Florida, our Department of Children and Families. And 99% of the money has gone to grants. Nobody got any money.”
He then went on to pan the press for not covering Hope Florida’s central mission to his liking.
“When we were having people being helped, a lot of these media organizations who tried to smear, they never even covered this. Like, we literally would have these ladies crying, saying they had nowhere else to turn, that because of this initiative, they were able to get on their feet, because they have this group or that group that came and did it.”
Before wrapping up his remarks on the subject, he bashed the press one more time.
“Anytime you guys are trying to link her to that, you’re lying to people. You’re intentionally trying to smear, because people like you don’t like the fact that this is a conservative approach that is embracing the faith community. You don’t want the faith community involved in this. That’s not where your orientation or your political philosophy is,” DeSantis said.
The First Lady, who was a longtime television commentator before entering politics, offered no comment on the subject.
The post Ron DeSantis rips media for smearing Casey DeSantis in Hope Florida Foundation coverage appeared first on Florida Politics – Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government..
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