Gov. Ron DeSantis took a bit of a victory lap after the First District Court of Appeal expunged a leaked grand jury report over alleged misappropriations centered around the Hope Florida Foundation while speaking at a press conference in Miami.
Judge Lance Neff ruled on Wednesday that a Leon County grand jury exceeded its legal authority after accusing officials of a "sophisticated scheme" to misappropriate $10M into pair of political action committees (PACs) to the Hope Florida Foundation to campaign against Florida's recreational marijuana ballot initiative from a $67 million Medicaid settlement between the state of Florida and Centene Corporation.
The jury report also named people it never indicted.
"This process has now culminated in what I think is probably the biggest judicial smackdown that I have ever seen in my entire career as an elected official," DeSantis said. "All the narratives crashed and burned with this opinion by the First District Court of Appeals, which was posted last night on their website."
Gov. DeSantis blasted the report as a lie.
"This opinion calls them on that, and it absolutely destroys them. So, as a matter of law, what they are saying is that ACA, our healthcare agency, entered into a pre-suit settlement and fully complied with the law. There is not a way to Florida law and the facts of this case and find a quote 'misappropriation,'" DeSantis said.Â
"This fully debunks this idea of any type of misappropriation. There was no misappropriation," DeSantis added. "That's a lie. That's a hoax. That's a partisan exercise that people who are abusing this process tried to perpetrate."
Gov. DeSantis also criticized the media for its reporting on the controversy.
"This is a legal report. It's now a report that's been found to be both legally and factually deficient," DeSantis said. "To be running with that, given those circumstances, I think at a minimum, is something that is professionally, in terms of ethics, very questionable."
Furthermore, he blasted outlets for smearing First Lady Casey DeSantis into the controversy. The Hope Florida Foundation was established in 2023 as part of Casey DeSantis's broader Hope Florida initiative started in 2021, a statewide program aiming to help Floridians off welfare into economic self-sufficiency by connecting them to private-sector and faith-based groups.
"She wasn't involved in the ACA settlement. She wasn't involved in any in the in the grants," DeSantis said.Â
DeSantis also suggested whoever leaked the report should be prosecuted, while calling it a "political stunt." Under Florida Statute, unpermitted disclosures of grand jury testimony can result in a first-degree misdemeanor.
"This was a big beatdown, and I think those folks who were impugned in that, I think they've been harmed," DeSantis said. "I don't think you can just say we're going to just move on. I think you need to hold the people accountable who disclose this because I think it's been very, very serious."
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who was named in the report for allegedly directing the funds, joined DeSantis in celebrating the judge's ruling.
"The First District Court of Appeals concluded what we said from the beginning that the state attorney process here was an abuse of power, exceeded authority, and violated Florida statute. The entire proceedings have been deemed erroneous as a matter of law," Uthmeier said.Â
