The Republican Party of Florida dropped its lawsuit against the Florida Democratic Party and local television broadcasters Wednesday afternoon after the Democratic Party stopped airing the ad.
The lawsuit concerned an advertisement that highlights the leaked Oct. 7 grand jury findings over the Hope Florida scandal, which found that $10 million of taxpayer money from a Medicaid settlement was misappropriated to the Hope Florida Foundation, although there wasn't enough evidence to charge anyone with a crime.
Florida’s First District Court of Appeal ordered the report expunged, criticizing its findings and the circumstances surrounding its release. Republicans subsequently sued over the Democratic Party’s advertisement, arguing that it unlawfully publicized information from the expunged report.
The lawsuit drew criticism from Democratic candidates and party officials. A judge previously declined to grant Republicans’ request for an immediate order blocking the advertisement.
The Democratic Party pulled the ad from the air Wednesday afternoon, making the lawsuit moot.
The two parties offered different interpretations of the dismissal.
The Democratic Party framed the dropping of the lawsuit as the Republican party backing down.
"Well, that didn’t take long,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said through a press release Wednesday. “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 Republican Party said it was evidence of the Democratic Party backing down, focusing on the party pulling the ad.
"Today, RPOF has voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit directed at a political ad that relied on material from a leaked and expunged grand jury report as we have learned that the Florida Democratic Party is no longer airing the advertisement making the case moot," a GOP press release announced. "Our letters and lawsuit have therefore served their purpose. Prosecutors, not political parties, investigate and lock-up criminals and this matter should be left to them. Florida’s grand jury laws carry real consequences. We’re heartened to see that state prosecutors are taking those consequences seriously. Charging decisions are theirs alone."
