A large portion of Republican voters are still convinced the 2020 presidential election was stolen from President Donald Trump. 7 months after President Trump's election day loss, Conservative Journalist and Congressional candidate Laura Loomer (R-FL), who is branded as Florida's most canceled woman, confronted Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link after she accepted a $6.8 million "Zuckerbucks" grant from Mark Zuckerberg.
Sartory Link asserts she never interviewed with Fox News about receiving the "Zuckerbucks" and using them during the election, but the Fox News report quotes her on several occasions.
Apparently, Loomer who confronted Sartory Link on June 14th has been writing to the Supervisor since June 1st on the matter of returning the remaining Zuckerberg grant money under the state's new election reform law that Governor Ron DeSantis, who appointed Sartory Link, recently signed into law
Sartory Link confirmed that her office did receive the grant but that there weren't a million dollars left, but Loomer's team has insisted she still withholds $1.34 million as was reported on January 31, 2021, through the COVID-19 Response Grant Report Sartory Link's office filled out.
Sartory Link told that the last of the requested money had been submitted as of January 29th and denied speaking with Fox News on the matter, or ever at all.
However, Fox News' Fred Lucas quoted Sartory three times in his article "Zuckerberg Money Could Affect DeSantis Reelection Campaign," on April 29 of this year.
Here is what Sartory Link told Fox News:
"Our original understanding of the grant was that it had to be used for 2020, so we didn’t spend all of the money," Link told Fox News.
"We are now getting permission from CTCL to complete the purchases. So, to answer your question, some of it would be for 2021, 2022, because some of that equipment, we weren't able to get in time — whether it's equipment or the firewall, some of the security, or IT security programs, didn’t get implemented," Link continued.
"We knew we weren’t going to have time to get them in as it turned out for 2020. So we didn’t purchase them because we wanted to make sure we stayed within the definition of the grant, which at the time was for 2020. We have since gotten permission for those now, so they are in that process for some of the equipment and some of the IT programs."
Loomer then asked when the money would be returned, in which Sartory responded that "We will return it [money] when the legislation is complete."
Governor DeSantis has now signed his new voting measure into law, where DeSantis hopes to "prohibit private money from running elections." The new law also prohibits election tactics like ballot harvesting.
In the squabble with Loomer, Sartory verbally stated "we are not spending any of it" regarding the Zuckerbucks grant. Loomer then threatened the Supervisor with legal action, stating, "I will file a lawsuit against the Palm Beach County Supervisors of Elections Office if you [Sartory] don't return the money."
Could DeSantis step in and press Sartory Link to return the remainder of the Zuckerbucks after he clearly stated that the remainder of those funds in questions needed to be returned once he signed SB 90 into law?
